
Class v> S% 1 

Book JB ^ 

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COFiRlGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE FARMER 
AND THE NEW DAY 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA ■ SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



THE FARMER 
AND THE NEW DAY 



BY 

KENYON L. BUTTERFIELD 

M 

President Massachusetts Agricultural College 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1919 

All rights reserved 



Ub-WM^, Q 






COPTEIGHT 1919 

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published, February, 1919 



» CI A5 12474 






QIo the "Old Guard" of the Michigan State Grange; 
to those still living and in memory of those who have 
passed beyond : 

®0 Jonathan J. Woodman, Cyrus G. Luce, Thomas 
Mars, George B. Horton, Mary A. Mayo, and others of 
the leaders of a quarter century ago: 

I sat at their feet as a young man fresh from col- 
lege ; under them I took my most valuable graduate 
course; from them I learned the character of the 
American Farmer of the best type, his problems, his 
aspirations, his faith; from their plans and labor for 
the upbuilding of agriculture and farm life I gained 
the desire to see the rural problem as a whole and to 
discover the fundamentals of its solution: 

Q/O them and their many loyal and earnest contem- 
poraries I dedicate this effort to express my convictions 
concerning the ultimate welfare of the American Farmer. 

The Author. 



" How shall he become wise that holdeth the plow, that 
glorieth in the shaft of the goad, that driveth oxen, and is occu- 
pied in their labors, and whose discourse is of the stock of bulls? 
He will set his heart upon turning his furrows ; and his wake- 
fulness is to give his heifers their fodder. So is every artificer 
and workmaster . . . the smith sitting by the anvil . . . the 
potter sitting at his work. 

" All these put their trust in their hands; and each becometh 
wise in his own work. Without these shall not a city be inhab- 
ited, and men shall not sojourn nor walk up and down therein. 
But they shall not be sought for in the council of the people, 
and in the assembly they shall not mount high ; they shall not 
sit on the seat of the judge, and they shall not understand the 
covenant of judgment; neither shall they declare instruction and 
judgment, and where parables are they shall not be found. But 
they will maintain the fabric of the world ; and in the handy- 
work of their craft is their prayer. 

" Not so he that hath applied his soul, and meditateth in the 
law of the Most High. He will seek out the wisdom of all 
the ancients, and will be occupied in prophecies. He will keep 
the discourse of the men of renown, and will enter in amidst the 
subtilties of parables. He will seek out the hidden meaning of 
proverbs, and be conversant in the dark sayings of parables. 
He will serve among great men, and appear before him that 
ruleth." 

— Ecclesiasticus. 

" Our civilization rests at bottom on the wholesomeness, the 
attractiveness, and the completeness, as well as the prosperity, 
of life in the country." 

— Theodore Roosevelt, IQOQ. 

" Every sign of these terrible days of war and revolutionary 
change, when economic and social forces are being released upon 



the world whose effect no political seer dare venture to conjec- 
ture, bids us search our hearts through and through and make 
them ready for the birth of a new day — a day, we hope and 
believe, of greater opportunity and greater prosperity for the 
average mass of struggling men and women, and of greater 
safety and opportunity for children. 

" Men everywhere are searching democratic principles to their 
hearts in order to determine their soundness, their sincerity, their 
adaptability to the real needs of their life, and every man with 
any vision must see that the real test of justice and right action 
is presently to come as it never came before. 

. . . every program, every measure in every program must 
be tested by this question, and this question only: Is it just; is 
it for the benefit of the average man, without influence of privi- 
lege ; does it embody in real fact the highest conception of social 
justice and of right dealing without respect of person or class or 
particular interest? " 

— President Wilson, March, IQ18. 



PREFACE 

For many years I have been meditating upon the mat- 
ters that have been written about in this book. I have 
lectured about them to students and talked about them 
to farmers and other folks. Long ago I planned to 
write them out in a book or series of books, but I have 
found it nearly impossible to write satisfactorily in the 
midst of administrative duties. Good thinking and 
good writing on themes such as these require from most 
of us, time, fresh energy, and sufficient relaxation of 
mind to enable one to chew the cuds of reflection. Ex- 
ecutives find it difficult to secure these requisites. I am 
finishing these pages under the pressure of a demand to 
join at once colleagues overseas in educational work 
among our soldiers. 

All that I have attempted in this book, is to endeavor 
to state the larger problems which the farmer must face 
during reconstruction and to indicate the significance 
and character of the relations between him and the rest 
of society in this new era. There has been little at- 
tempt to furnish solutions of specific problems; rather 
to indicate a few of the fundamental principles and 
methods by which agricultural improvement and an ad- 
justment to world affairs can be made. 

My thanks are due to colleagues in the Division of 
Rural Social Science at the Massachusetts Agricultural 
College, Dr. Alexander E. Cance and Professor John 
Phelan, for helpful comment and criticism; and par- 



PREFACE 

ticularly to Miss Lorian P. Jefferson, Assistant Pro- 
fessor in the Division, for close reading of both man- 
uscript and proof. Indeed, T am obliged to leave 
for France before the proof is read. 

Kenyon L. Butterfield. 
Amherst, Massachusetts. 
November, 191 8. 



CONTENTS 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Is the Farmer Coming to His Own? 

II The Challenge of the New Day . 

III The Rural Problem 

IV Farm Profits and Rural Welfare 
V Farming That Is Not Farming 



i 

19 
30 

57 
70 



RURAL ORGANIZATION 

VI Wanted: A Rural Policy 84 

VII The Education of the Rural People . . 106 

VIII The Organization of American Agriculture 

and Country Life 122 

IX The Making of Rural Communities . . . 142 

X Organizing the Rural Community . . . 165 

XI The Statesmanship of Rural Affairs . .191 

A RURAL DEMOCRACY 

XII The Farmer and the New Democracy . .211 

XIII An American Program of Rural Recon- 

struction 226 

XIV The Urge of the New Day 261 

APPENDICES 

I The Forum and the Community . . . .271 
II What Some Communities are Doing . . . 274 

III Program for Food Production and Conserva- 

tion 281 

IV An American Agricultural Policy . . .291 



THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

CHAPTER I 

IS THE FARMER COMING TO HIS OWN? 

Many centuries ago a certain wise man said that he 
that holdeth the plow, and driveth oxen, as well as 
every artificer, all who put their trust in their hands, 
shall not be sought for in the council of wise men who 
have leisure in which to prophesy, and to enter into the 
subtleties of parables. What he meant to say was that 
the common people are fundamentally necessary to the 
world but do not govern the world. 

A few months ago another wise man, perhaps the 
most far-sighted of his generation, bade us " search our 
hearts through and through and make them ready for 
the birth of a New Day — a day, we hope and believe, 
of greater opportunity . . . for the average mass of 
struggling men and women." 

Which of these principles of human development 
and influence is to prevail in the years and centuries 
ahead of us? Which of these wise men is the true 
prophet for our time — he who condemned the com- 
mon man to a position of minor influence in society, or 
he who sees a new day for the average man? 

THE FARMER AS UNDERLING 

It is certain that during the centuries that have passed 
since the wise man of Ecclesiasticus painted his picture 

i 



2 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

of the peasant, in most times and in most places, the 
farmer has been an underling. Even the land that he 
tilled has not been his own. In great spaces of the 
earth the farmer was for ages an actual slave. In 
some regions even to-day he belongs to the land and, 
if the land is sold, he goes with it to the new owner. 
If any country is dark, with illiteracy, ignorance, and 
superstition, it will be found that the blackest areas 
are the rural districts. The soil tiller has at the worst 
been serf and clout, and at the best, with a few shining 
exceptions, rustic or peasant. Rarely indeed has he sat 
at the council-board of those who determined the des- 
tinies of peoples or even had a voice in the policies that 
governed his own work and life. 

THE SHINING EXCEPTIONS 

In republican Rome the farmer seems to have been 
held in respect and to have had a satisfactory place in 
the business of the time. Of the standing of Roman 
farmers in general, Cato says that when a Roman 
wished to commend an honest man he termed him a 
good husbandman, a good farmer. This was rated 
the superlative of praise. It was, he continues, from 
the tillers of the soil that sprang the best citizens, the 
stanchest soldiers, and theirs were the most enduring re- 
wards. A survey of Roman literature reveals many a 
prominent name made famous chiefly through writings 
on agricultural subjects. Cato, farmer, soldier, law- 
yer, is known to us almost wholly through his De Re 
Rustica, which reveals his wide farm experience. 
Varro, " the most learned of the Romans," left to the 
world the best practical work on farm management 
which has come down to us from the ancients — Rcrum 
Rusticarum, a careful statement of actual experience 



COMING TO HIS OWN? 3 

and knowledge of a successful farmer. Virgil dis- 
coursed on the joys of country life. Cincinnatus left 
his plow for war on behalf of his country. Agricul- 
ture for centuries was the bed-rock of Rome's strength, 
and farmers were not kept out of the councils of the 
wise. 

Again we find an exception to the dreary monotony 
of rural dependency in the English " yeoman." Of a 
population of perhaps two and one-half millions in 
England in the seventeenth century, it is estimated that 
not less than eleven-twelfths were engaged in agricul- 
ture. According to statistics for the year 1688, there 
were 180,000 families of yeomen, known as freehold- 
ers, and 150,000 families of farmers. These figures 
are significant in connection with a total of 1,360,000 
families in England at the time. The freeholders were 
actual farm owners, living on the soil, and the farmers 
were those tenants who paid an annual rent for their 
holdings about equal to the annual value of the farm. 
The middle of the seventeenth century was the time 
when the English yeomen enjoyed the greatest freedom 
and prosperity. They owned their own land or rented 
it on favorable terms and for desirable periods; they 
were sturdy and independent, often daring to oppose, 
" in voting and in fighting," the neighboring squire. 
One writer of the period said, " The yeomanry is an 
estate of people almost peculiar to England; [he] 
wears russet clothes, but makes golden payments, hav- 
ing tin in his buttons but silver in his pockets. He 
seldom goes abroad, and his credit goes farther than 
his travel." Economically the farmers [tenants] were 
about equal to the freeholders, differing considerably, 
however, in social standing. 



I 



4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



MODERN RAINBOWS OF PROMISE 

During the past fifty years there has grown up in 
certain European countries a new treatment of the 
farmer and in some respects a new attitude toward 
him. He has acquired a new power in affairs. Per- 
haps the most conspicuous examples of this new situa- 
tion are Germany, Denmark, and Ireland. Other 
countries, such as Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, 
France, and even Italy, in many ways stand out in the 
light of a splendid progress and an intelligent states- 
manship in rural affairs. But on the whole the three 
countries first named are the best illustrations of a rural 
development which has been planned in advance; each 
country has made a special contribution to rural im- 
provement. 

Germany had probably developed before the war the 
most far-reaching agricultural policy that we know — a 
policy grounded in national aspirations and designs. 
The principles underlying this policy were simple 
enough, especially as we view them now in the light of 
the world war. Germany encouraged agriculture for 
two great reasons: (i) That she might feed herself 
in time of war; (2) that she might breed soldiers. 
Her tariffs on food products; her encouragement of col- 
lective selling of farm products and of collective pur- 
chase of farm requirements; her remarkable machinery 
for furnishing the farmer with both short-time and 
long-time credit; her more than tolerance of great asso- 
ciations of farmers and the granting of semi-official 
standing to their leaders ; her widespread and very effec- 
tive system of agricultural education — all these 
(added to the fact that German agriculture, and conse- 
quently the very structure of German society itself, rests 



COMING TO HIS OWN? 5 

upon the broad back of German farm women) made 
Germany all but self-sustaining at the time she chose 
war for her portion. Her encouragement of small 
farming and large families, her methods of " keeping 
boys on the farm," her care of public health, added to 
her system of military training, gave her the huge 
armies that she flung into Belgium and France, into 
Russia and the Balkans. Thus Germany, pursuing for 
two generations a consistent agricultural policy, was en- 
abled, on a soil originally not especially rich and from 
an area smaller than that of the state of Texas, to pro- 
vide perhaps nine-tenths of the food for her seventy 
millions of people. Her attitude toward agriculture, 
it may be said in passing, won for her militaristic policy 
the support of the agricultural classes. Thus, while 
we detest the spirit and method of the Germany that is 
responsible for the horrible carnage of the world war, 
we find in that country that the soil tiller came to a place 
of comparative influence and power. 

Denmark, in 1866, found herself deprived of the 
richest part of her soil by the war with Germany. She 
had few manufactures and has not many to-day. She 
had little capital but grit, a vision of a complete agri- 
culture and wonderful leadership. In half a century 
she developed probably the most fully organized and 
generally prosperous agriculture of any political area 
in the world. She chose a few products on which to 
specialize, those to which she was best adapted and 
for which a market could be found. Danish butter, 
Danish bacon, and Danish eggs made their way against 
all competitors and caused the Danish farmer to be- 
come a factor not only at home but in the national 
economy of other countries. 

For decades and even centuries Ireland was the land 



6 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

of political protest and rebellion. Her sons and daugh- 
ters left her by millions, her poverty both in city and in 
country grew apace. Absentee landlordism became a 
stench and a byword among the terribly poor tenantry. 
And then a prophet arose in that land and proclaimed 
a new gospel of reformation. Horace Plunkett had a 
simple message that went to the root of the situation; 
Ireland's farming must be rehabilitated; her land must 
be owned by those who till it; the day of the lone farmer 
has passed and the day of the rural cooperation has 
dawned; there must be a new rural civilization, adequate 
and satisfying economically and socially; self-sustaining 
local rural communities must be built up as the bul- 
wark of a true democracy of work and life as well as 
of government. And so, by 19 14, half of Ireland's 
farm land had passed from big landlord to little farmer 

— the " family size " farm was the unit of measure 

— hundreds of cooperative societies were in active and 
successful operation, the spirit of cooperation had suc- 
ceeded to the spirit of apartness. The flame of Irish 
enthusiasm and endeavor on behalf of rural interests 
has been carried to our own shores and has lighted 
many a torch of leadership in rural affairs. 

SOME LESSONS FOR US 

It is worth while to take note of the underlying meth- 
ods and results of these great national enterprises in 
agricultural betterment, for they may have some valu- 
able lessons for us in America. Germany, with its 
far-reaching agricultural policy; Denmark, with its very 
complete, almost perfect system of cooperative effort 
in production and sale of food; Ireland, with its ideals 
of social development and rural community building — 
these countries, together with the others already named, 



COMING TO HIS OWN? 7 

seem to have brought the farmer into a new and higher 
position in the business and life of the nations. What 
are the fundamental conditions under which this change 
was accomplished? 

1. First was the spur of necessity. At bottom it was 
the competition from America, Argentina, and Aus- 
tralia, or some serious internal difficulty that forced the 
European farmer into the depths of despair and thus 
compelled statesmen to plan for his recuperation. 
" Something had to be done." 

2. The great principles of improvement which were 
recognized and used at every turn were education and 
organization. Neither was more important than the 
other; both were indispensable and neither alone was 
efficient. Organization meant governmental approval, 
recognition, and even financial aid in all efforts at volun- 
tary cooperation among farmers, especially in the busi- 
ness side of farming — selling products, buying sup- 
plies, and various forms of collective credit and insur- 
ance. Even in Germany, in spite of an opinion to the 
contrary, the main idea was for government to help 
farmers to help themselves. Education meant a wide- 
spread system of technical education in agriculture 
adapted to all degrees of intelligence, placed within 
reach of every youth and every adult living on the land. 
In some cases, the great cooperative societies carried on 
this educational work themselves, but always as a real 
part of a publicly supported and thoroughly organized 
system. 

3. There was developed in each country a well 
planned and fairly definite agricultural program. This 
program was capable of being put upon paper. It had 
been hammered out in conferences of all the interests 
concerned. It was relatively stable. It was a plan 



8 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

of agricultural improvement recognized by farmers as 
meeting their needs and by statesmen as fitting into na- 
tional welfare. 

4. Finally, agriculture came to be recognized as a 
national factor, to be planned for and worked with for 
large national ends. It was no longer a neglected ele- 
ment. And so the leaders among the farmers were in 
a sense received at court; they did " sit with the wise 
men at the gate of the city." 

Thus when the great war broke out in 19 14, it seemed 
as if in many parts of Europe the farmer had in a meas- 
ure at last come to his own. It still remains to be seen 
whether, in the reestablishment of peaceful occupations, 
and particularly in the democratization of autocratic 
states, the farmer is to have a full share of responsibil- 
ity and power. 

THE AMERICAN FARMER 

The final and the greatest exception to the general 
position of the farmer in society is the American farmer. 
In no age cf history and in no country has there been 
nor is there now his equal. American farm life has 
bred the most skillful farmers, the most intelligent rural 
citizens, the most engaging farm homes to be found 
anywhere in the world. This praise applies to the real 
American farmer, the owner and active manager of a 
family-size farm, who came of the best blood of pioneer 
America, whose intelligence is comparable with that of 
the leading groups of citizens of the Republic, many of 
whose sons and daughters have made their way into 
recognized leadership in business, industry, and the 
professions. It is difficult to speak with restraint of 
this man or his achievements. He conquered a huge 



COMING TO HIS OWN? 9 

continent of rich soil for civilization. He carried to 
the frontier an eager desire for education, the demo- 
cratic impulse, and the fear of the Lord. He has 
helped fight his country's battles. He has been the bed- 
rock of representative government. His independent 
spirit, his abundant energy, his high intelligence have 
made him without a peer among the tillers of the soil. 
His income is supposed to be two and one-half times 
that of the English farmer, three times that of the Ger- 
man farmer, and six times that of the Italian farmer. 

A rather careful survey of the agricultural produc- 
tion of different nations indicates that the production 
of the American farmer, whether considered by him- 
self or with all those dependent upon him, is several 
times that of the German, British, French, or Italian 
farmer. The exact relation may be shown in the fol- 
lowing table, in which an arbitrary index figure is used 
to show relative values. If we call the index of 
productivity for each American engaged in agriculture 
292; the index for the British farmer is 126; for each 
German farmer, 119; for the French farmer, 90; and 
for the Italian farmer, 45. That is to say, the volume 
of productivity of each American engaged in agricul- 
ture is about two and one-half times that of the English 
agriculturist, nearly three times that of the German 
farmer, and six times that of the Italian. 

Fixing at 1,000 the productivity of each American 
dependent on agriculture, which includes all persons 
gainfully employed in agriculture as well as those de- 
pendent on them, the German index will be 685, or 
68 per cent, as much; for the Briton, 425, or 42 per 
cent. ; for the Frenchman, 406, or 40 per cent. ; and for 
the Italian 230, or 23 per cent. Of course this table 



io THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

merely shows that for each person employed in agri- 
culture in America, there are more unemployed de- 
pendents than there are in other countries. 

Index of productivity per person: 

For each American dependent upon agriculture. . . . 1004 

For each German dependent upon agriculture 685 

For each Briton dependent upon agriculture 425 

For each Frenchman dependent upon agriculture . . 406 
For each Italian dependent upon agriculture 230 

Index of productivity per person: 

For each American engaged in agriculture 292 

For each Briton engaged in agriculture 126 

For each German engaged in agriculture 1 19 

For each Frenchman engaged in agriculture 90 

For each Italian engaged in agriculture 45 

RIFTS IN THE LUTE 

But there has been another side to the story. The 
pioneer experiences were trying, often discouraging, 
not seldom heart-breaking. There have been poor 
farmers both on poor land and on good land, as well 
as good farmers on poor land, with resulting ineffi- 
ciency. Farming regions have competed f6r the mar- 
kets. Financial returns have often been meager, many 
total failures have ensued, mortgages have been fore- 
closed, women have gone insane from isolation and 
drudgery. These and other discouragements have 
from time to time resulted in organized protest; the 
great farmers' organizations of the country have all 
grown out of the spur of disadvantages to masses of 
farmers. The dissatisfaction of farmers was peculiarly 
acute during the period from about 1875 to 1895. 



COMING TO HIS OWN? n 

Since 1895 the rapidly decreasing percentage of new 
lands coming under cultivation, with a resulting decline 
in ratio between farm producers and urban consumers, 
the freer absorption of the food supply by both Ameri- 
can and foreign markets, the gradual rise in price levels 
have given us an era of relative rural prosperity. In- 
deed some of the evidences of this prosperity in the 
form of the free purchase and use of automobiles, enor- 
mous statistical aggregates of value of animal and field 
production, the ability of many farmers to " retire " 
during middle life, have blinded us to sinister tendencies 
that have been creeping into our American agriculture 
as silently and as relentlessly as the inflowing tides of 
the sea. Without aiming to make a complete state- 
ment of these depressing facts, it will suffice to mention 
those that seem to be most significant in a bearing upon 
the question whether or not the American farmer will 
hold his own. 

1. The great majority of American farmers are not 
to-day securing from their labor a reward which they 
regard as fair to themselves, nor one which students of 
social science consider satisfactory from the stand- 
point of minimum requirements for a decent living. 
The best figures obtainable indicate an average labor 
income for the American farmer of $400 per year. 
There are some states, indeed some whole regions, 
where farmers on the whole are very prosperous; but 
this fact merely adds force to the discouragingly meager 
income in those areas where the returns are at or below 
the average. 

2. There is a widespread, almost a universal, belief 
among farmers that, as the phrase goes, " the farmer 
does not get his share of the consumer's dollar." 
Doubtless some statistics on this point are misleading; 



12 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

unquestionably rural public opinion is narrow with re- 
spect to the real values created by middlemen; and 
probably distribution has been charged with failures 
that as a matter of fact are due to poor business man- 
agement on the part of farmers, or to competition be- 
tween rival areas of production, or merely to the influ- 
ence of the season's weather. Nevertheless there is 
ample ground for the assertion that the farmers are 
quite right in the main contention. Our system of dis- 
tributing food products works in general against the 
farmers' interests. Wonderfully complete and ef- 
fective in many ways as a system of carrying food from 
and into all corners of an immense country and into 
foreign lands, it is a system costly to run and built up 
with scant regard to the farmer's share. 

3. The growth in tenant farming has become notable, 
especially in quite recent years. To a degree this was 
inevitable. A vast number of American farmers came 
into possession of their farms either by direct gift of 
the nation or at prices that were merely nominal. 
Ownership was made easy. There was small excuse 
for tenant farming. As soon, however, as the demand 
for land outran the supply of virgin soil, the landless 
farmers were compelled to rent in order to " get a 
start." No doubt a fair proportion of present day 
tenant farming is due simply to the fact that the farmer 
has to use this method of arriving at ownership — he 
is on the way to possession. But there are features of 
this movement toward tenantry that are very disturb- 
ing. It is in the main a transient form of tenant farm- 
ing. Figures gathered by the Census Bureau in 19 10 
showed that out of six and one-third million farmers, 
1,787,473 tenant farmers had been on the land they 
were tilling four years or less, and 1,123,722 but one 



COMING TO HIS OWN? 13 

year or less. These figures are for both share and 
cash tenants. Now the evils of such a situation need 
no explanation. Poor farming is inevitable; soil de- 
pletion is unescapable; futile, ineffective lives of farm- 
ers and their families are unavoidable; and worst of all, 
the deterioration of rural communities becomes hope- 
lessly certain. We have reached a point in American 
agriculture where it is worth while to hold land for its 
speculative rather than for its true economic value. 
In some of our most prosperous farming states land is 
slowly but surely passing into the hands of absentee 
landlords — not merely farmers who can afford to re- 
tire to the village or county seat, but to an increasing 
extent men whose main business is banking, mercan- 
tiling, or the law, and whose investment in farm land 
is purely speculative. 

4. Perhaps the most menacing tendency in American 
agriculture is one that curiously enough attracts little 
attention among the farmers themselves. It may be 
expressed by saying that in some ways many of our rich- 
est farming districts are becoming our poorest. The 
prosperous farmer in his pride says, " I can afford to 
retire." Retiring means moving away from the farm. 
He has pulled out by the roots his leadership in his com- 
munity. His support of local enterprise is no longer 
felt. If his place be taken by his son or other young 
man educated, interested, public-spirited, the case is 
not so bad. But as a rule his place is taken by a man 
of lesser capacity whose interest in community affairs 
is transient. The sense of community responsibility, 
the feeling of local patriotism, the pull and push of 
loyalty to the common good of the neighborhood has 
dried up as the rootage of personal attachment to the 
farming community has been exposed. 



i 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

As a, consequence it is probable that the great funda- 
mental social institutions such as the rural school and 
the country church are not merely relatively but ac- 
tually less efficient than formerly in many parts of our 
country, even in regions in which land owners are very 
prosperous in a business way. In some cases these 
changes for the worse are so marked that we find that 
entire neighborhoods in the course of perhaps two dec- 
ades become populated by a class clearly less effective, 
less intelligent, and less ambitious than was formerly 
the case. 

Now this way lies the extinction of the " American 
farmer." If farm " prosperity " spells actual rural 
decline, the yeoman type of soil tiller is doomed. The 
new peasant will take the place of the old plowman. 
One may still view the whole picture of American agri- 
culture with pride, but only the blind optimist can fail 
to see the menace of these and other similar tendencies 
in our rural affairs. 

WHAT THE WAR HAS REVEALED 

And then came the war. How it intensified our 
thought about the future welfare of our country! Ab- 
sorbed as we were in our effort to win the war, down 
underneath our activity we kept pondering the ques- 
tion, What is the war to bring us as its great abiding 
results? And so in agriculture we ask, What has the 
war revealed? 

i. "Food will win the war" was an exaggerated 
statement of a great fact. Never before in all our 
history has our sheer dependence upon the soil and the 
men who till the soil revealed itself to the multitudes 
who have never had a curious question as to where food 
comes from, much less as to the welfare or the people 



COMING TO HIS OWN? 15 

who grow it. The war surely brought the farmer to 
his own in respect to a new consciousness on the part 
of the world's food users of their utter dependence 
upon him. 

2. The war revealed to the farmer more clearly 
his duty as a member of society. He has seen as never 
before his obligation to strain his back to even severer 
toil for the sake of those so dependent upon him. 
Heretofore he has naturally been more concerned with 
his rights — with getting a fair and just return for his 
labor. He has not felt a keen personal sense of obliga- 
tion to supply food for people who can't grow it for 
themselves. Now the deepest parts of a nature rich 
in feeling have been touched. The farmer has been 
asked to produce, not primarily for profit but for a 
great cause. And has the farmer responded? In- 
deed he has responded. If America's part in the war 
is ever adequately written, one of the great chapters 
will tell of the way in which the farmers who stayed on 
the land, working under the greatest difficulties, met 
the " call to the colors." 

3. But the war also revealed a vacant chair at the 
nation's council table — the chair of the farmer. 
(And here let us recall the writer of Ecclesias- 
ticus.) The United States Department of Agriculture, 
with its great machinery and its staff of trained and 
able men; its auxiliaries, the agricultural colleges and 
schools; and particularly the new but effective system 
of county farm bureaus — verily raised up for the 
great hour — all have done an effective and indis- 
pensable service in the crisis. Groups of farmers have 
from time to time and to an increasing extent been in 
consultation with responsible officials of government 
and their counsel been made effective. Nevertheless 



1 6 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the working farmers of America as a class have not 
been represented in any authoritative or adequate way 
in the groups that have outlined policies nor in the 
councils that have determined destinies, either with re- 
spect to agriculture itself, nor in those fields of effort 
in which the farmers as a great class of citizens have a 
special interest. This is not a new situation. The 
war has merely revealed it in an accentuated form. 
The farmer has never been taken into council about the 
big affairs of the nation in political, business or welfare 
enterprises. "How will it affect the farmer?" is a 
question seldom asked in a serious, intelligent way in 
those conferences in which great movements for human 
wcllbcing are started and maintained. 

4. Our entrance into the world war also revealed the 
absence of a national agricultural policy, clear, definite, 
accepted by the farmers. The war made clear once 
for all that the problem of food supply is one problem, 
and that a program of activities for the farmers must 
fit into a program not only for producing but also for 
distributing and using the food produced. We did not 
have at the opening of the war, and we do not yet have, 
a food supply policy on a national scale, unified in its 
program and fully cooperative in its methods, with all 
agencies working as one instrumentality in an effort to 
carry on one big task. Part by part we developed an 
agricultural policy for the war, but slowly, hesitatingly, 
partially. Our agricultural preparedness for the war 
was but little further advanced than was our military 
preparedness. 

5. It is quite clear that both lack of agricultural 
representation in national affairs and absence of a dis- 
tinct agricultural policy are in a very real way the 
farmer's own fault. The secret of the matter is the 



COMING TO HIS OWN? 17 

unorganized character of agriculture. " Farmers' or- 
ganizations " there are, of considerable recognized 
power. Associated efforts there are by the thousand 
for various purposes. We have a huge and on the 
whole an effective scheme of publicly supported agri- 
cultural education. We have an alert agricultural 
press. But there is no national figure nor central group 
of men to voice authoritatively any message to or from 
the farmers. There is no one of the farmers to speak 
for the farmers. American agriculture, unlike other 
prime industries, is not organized. It is a great un- 
wieldy, complex mass of individuals and relatively small 
groups, without effective unity of thought to direct or 
tongue to express. 

6. In the current discussions about the problem of 
" reconstruction," slight attention is being given to agri- 
culture. An examination of many recent books about 
" democracy," " the new social order," " industrial 
democracy," " the new epoch " reveals an almost utter 
failure to sense the significance of the farmer's place in 
democracy in social and industrial re-formation. Agri- 
culture is still the largest single industry in America 
however measured. It employs directly more men than 
any other industry. Do we desire social justice for 
our people ? Nearly half of them live under rural con- 
ditions. Do we wish to reorganize our educational 
system in the interests of a " safer " democracy? Con- 
siderably more than a third of the children of the land 
are to be found in the " little red schoolhouse." Are 
we anxious lest the New Day will fail to give us a firmer 
grip on the spiritual and ideal aspects of our work and 
life? Probably forty million souls are either touched 
or untouched in the matter of religious values and mo- 
tives by the country church. The declaration of the 



1 8 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

British Labor Party, regarded by all true liberals as 
one of the great social documents of any period, is all 
but silent with respect to the rights and duties of farm- 
ers in the new social order. Yet the food problem of 
Great Britain is vital. Germany's aid to agriculture 
was the bed rock of her power to fight. If Russia is 
ever redeemed, it will be achieved through the educa- 
tion and organization of her peasantry, which con- 
stitutes more than seventy-five per cent, of her popu- 
lation. The Balkan states are nothing but rural prov- 
inces. China and India are largely rural. 

IS THE FARMER REALLY COMING TO HIS OWN? 

Thus the war has once more brought to the fore this 
age-old query. It has shown us in America particularly 
both the great, splendid strength and the serious, 
menacing weakness of our farming and our farm life. 
We must pause to discover whether the American 
farmer is moving upward in his place in society or 
gradually sinking in the scale. Is it to be easier or 
harder for his sons to buy land and to make a fair 
profit from it, than it was for him or for his grand- 
father? Whither? This is the big question in our 
rural affairs. Is the farmer even holding his own? 
The American farmer has been a great exception to the 
century-old rule that " he that holdeth the plow . . . 
shall not understand the covenant of judgment, nor be 
sought for in the council of the people." But in the 
New Day, in which we devoutly hope and fervently 
pray that we may have an end of economic serfdom, 
can we preserve this yeoman, this well-bred, highly in- 
telligent, individually effective citizen, the American 
Farmer? 



CHAPTER II 

THE CHALLENGE OF THE NEW DAY 

The Hebrews of Isaiah's time looked forward to a 
golden age with a new heaven and a new earth, when 
" Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall in- 
herit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the 
work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little 
one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong 
nation." Centuries later, with faith still high and gaze 
still eager, the seer beheld the holy city let down from 
heaven, and heard the promise that God would dwell 
with his people and would wipe away all tears from 
their eyes. 

All through history the human mind has held to the 
ideal of a better day for mankind. The tragedy of the 
ages has been its postponement. But the hope never 
dies. It springs afresh with new opportunities and 
there is in each new effort some gain. The war stirred 
to its depths this spirit of a progress to be made in 
terms of human welfare and happiness. The Allies 
were forced to meet a huge and conscienceless effort on 
the part of an exceedingly strong people to achieve 
world power by force. But among the Allies them- 
selves there were at the outset mixed motives. Ideas 
of imperialism unquestionably were ingrained in the 
minds of their statesmen until the United States en- 
tered the war. At that time came the great interpreta- 
tion of the deep possibilities of the war — to " make 

19 



20 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the world safe for democracy." Like a flood the age- 
old ideals burst forth once more with new expressions 
of resolve. 

So to-day there is a widespread hope that a New Day 
for mankind is about to dawn, yes, has dawned. Books 
without end are already written on the text that a New 
Day is upon us. Men are recasting their thinking, 
seeking to discover what all this means for them and 
for others. Groups of men and women are trying to 
write down on paper statements that will express their 
views of what gains we may make now that the war has 
ended. 

Among all these efforts to express the real meaning 
of the New Day, the one that has attracted most at- 
tention is " the draft report on reconstruction," pre- 
pared by members of the British Labor Party. While 
radical in its spirit, it is notable alike for the breadth 
and scope of its ideas, for the sweeping character of 
its proposed methods, for the dignity and clearness of 
its style, and for the prospective political influence of 
its sponsor3. The most significant words in this docu- 
ment and among the most important words of recent 
times are these: " We must ensure that what is pres- 
ently to be built up is a new social order, based not on 
fighting but on fraternity — not on the competitive 
struggle for the means of bare life, but on deliberately 
planned cooperation in production and distribution for 
the benefit of all who participate by hand or by brain — 
not on the utmost inequality of riches, but on a system- 
atic approach towards a healthy equality of material 
circumstances for every person born into the world — 
not on an enforced dominion over subject nations, sub- 
ject races, subject colonies, subject classes, or a subject 
sex, but in industry as well as in government, on that 



CHALLENGE OF NEW DAY 21 

equal freedom, that general consciousness of consent, 
and that widest participation in power, both economic 
and political, which is characteristic of democracy." 

Here is the slogan of the New Day — complete so- 
cial reconstruction. Not a mending, patching, repair- 
ing process, but a rebuilding of human society, a true 
re-formation. 

These words sound like the theories of dreamers, 
the visions of quiet students who have never had to 
hew their way in the world. No; they are the sober 
voice of wage earners, hand workers, millions of them, 
who look forward to a New Day for themselves and 
for others — not as a dream but as a goal to strive for 
at once. This gospel of the New Day was abroad be- 
fore the war broke out. In our own land the fight 
against special privilege had taken on new vigor when 
Mr. Roosevelt as President threw his great personality 
into the struggle and announced his allegiance to the 
forces of public righteousness and business morality. 
The political Progressive movement was fundamentally 
a revolt against predatory wealth and the entrenched 
power of a few, and on behalf of the welfare of the 
many. But the war has driven the longing of the com- 
mon people ahead a whole generation; it has given 
them a new power in big affairs; it has even obliterated 
national lines and shown that people the world over 
want the same thing — a New Day. 

Our special interest lies in an answer to the question, 
What does the New Day mean for the people on the 
land, for the farmers of the world? Do they share 
the vision and can they help build the new society? 
To answer this question we must first try to discover 



22 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW DAY 

One approaches such a subject with caution, for each 
person who tries to understand for himself the mean- 
ing of the new time will, of course, come to a point 
of view a little different from that of any one else, and 
will moreover express his views somewhat differently. 
When one is dealing with so big a thing as the rebuild- 
ing of human society, it becomes almost foolish to 
prophesy. Great currents are sweeping us on. We 
cannot control them and we are not even sure where 
they are taking us. Their direction may change over- 
night; because for a long time after peace comes, hu- 
man society will be subject to volcanic disturbances 
that may change the entire face of the earth. But even 
if we cannot tell just what is going to happen, we 
may with some measure of confidence describe the great 
hope and the great faith in the new spirit that will 
animate human affairs when once more the efforts 
of men can be used for construction instead of for 
destruction. There are at least four big items that 
seem to stand out as parts of the spirit of the New 
Day. 

i. In General, a Far Better Chance for the " Com- 
mon Man." It is one of the strangest perversities of 
our human nature that the very thing that spurs us on 
to achievement may be the thing that becomes the great- 
est obstacle to true progress. The desire to advance, 
to achieve, is for all practical purposes an ambition 
to excel. One of the mainsprings of progress has been 
just the intense desire to excel others. We admire the 
driving power of such desire; we despise the person 
who " doesn't want to get ahead," who " lacks ambi- 
tion." Yet this trait of ambition has led to preroga- 



CHALLENGE OF NEW DAY 23 

tive, to privilege, to glorifying the power of the strong. 
It has classified the masses of humankind as the " com- 
mon people " — presumably the others are the " un- 
common people " ! 

Nobody really fails to understand that there are wide 
differences in the capacities of men. Some of us have 
had to discover with sorrow and keen regret that we 
must work under many limitations — limitations that 
some others do not seem to have. We have to submit 
to the fact that there are others abler and more com- 
petent than ourselves. This elementary lesson of life 
some people never learn. But even when the lesson is 
learned, our minds are not satisfied with a situation that 
still persists. After a time the abler people, the strong, 
so arranged affairs — not usually maliciously or even 
always consciously — but actually arrange affairs so 
that it becomes increasingly easy for the few to procure 
the things and the conditions that all people aspire to 
possess, and increasingly difficult for the many even to 
try to obtain them. The abler few apparently knew 
how to plan ahead. They are the organizers of 
schemes and programs. So long as the world goes 
forward on the basis of each man for himself, the 
strong push ahead. So we have developed leadership, 
statesmanship, even aristocracies. Sometimes these ar- 
rangements result from sheer ability, careless however 
of the interests of the many. More often they are the 
persistence of old privileges which possibly once were 
earned, but which have been passed on to those who 
had no part in deserving them. But the rest of us — 
the common people — have grown more and more im- 
patient of such arrangements. The great, fundamen- 
tal, abiding promise of the New Day is that future 
arrangements among men, alike in respect to work, to 



24 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

government, and to the conditions of living, will have 
regard primarily, not incidentally or accidentally, to 
the common man, to the great masses of men and 
women. They are to have in vastly enlarged measure 
the opportunities for comfort and happiness and re- 
warding labor and growth of mind and heart, that 
have to so great an extent been the privilege of the 
few. 

2. Planning a Civilization. The very fact that the 
work of the world has been done on the basis of indi- 
vidual interest, has led to a certain measure of drifting 
or chance development. One might, of course, be led 
to make this statement too strong, for there has been 
a vast deal of planning. Perhaps the best single test 
of an efficient civilization is the ability of men and 
women to plan how they will work and live together; 
what their great objectives are to be and how they can 
best be attained. In the past this planning has been 
done largely by the few, and in the interests of the few. 
Plans for the many have as a whole been made with- 
out their assent, and not always in their interest. The 
spirit of the New Day will call for a better and bigger 
plan of work and life for all men in the interest of all 
alike. 

3. Reconciling Efficiency and Freedom. The idea 
of efficiency has come to stay. Wasted effort, wasted 
resources, wasted time are immoral, " dead wrong." 
The spirit of the New Day demands from each person, 
from each working group or class, from each social 
institution its utmost effectiveness and largest exer- 
cise of capacity. At this point, we are obliged to learn 
from Germany; to fail to do so would be foolish. For 
Germany, beyond any other nation, has learned to 
make a plan for the work and life of her people that 



CHALLENGE OF NEW DAY 25 

makes their combined effort most effective toward 
whatever end or purpose she has in mind. The Ger- 
man plan fails to meet the test that will be imposed 
by an American, and in the long run the best interests 
of her own people, because the plans are made and 
executed for and not by the many. They are superim- 
posed by supermen upon those below. The true demo- 
crat will not despise wise leadership — more of that 
later. But men will be free. There is a growing 
conviction among thoughtful people that perhaps the 
biggest single task of the New Day is to secure the full 
efficiency of men and peoples, while conserving their 
liberty, their initiative, their private power to think 
and plan and do. 

4. Duties as well as Rights Are to be Emphasized 
and even Enforced. The common man has thus far 
made his fight for opportunity largely on the basis of 
justice. He has claimed that he has not had his 
" rights." He has antagonized the so-called " rights " 
of the privileged classes because he believed that these 
rights created great wrongs. Now the spirit of the 
New Day is a spirit of righteousness — rightness. It 
holds that the great test of all human endeavor is 
whether or not it is right. The moral not the economic 
method and result is after all the big thing. The 
struggle for the rights of the common man is there- 
fore a legitimate struggle. If he cannot secure his 
rights, he cannot be free, and if he cannot be free, he 
cannot grow to the full stature of a man. Now the 
common people gladly receive this doctrine when it 
applies to their own rights. This is natural, for they 
feel and on the whole have a right to feel that their 
rights have been denied them. They believe that the 
struggle for their rights is a righteous struggle. 



26 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

But the spirit of the New Day also demands that to 
insist upon rights alone is not enough. We all agree 
that to grant our own rights is the duty of other people, 
but we must appreciate the fact that the others have 
rights which it may be our duty to grant. It has been 
said by a wise American economist, Thomas N. Carver, 
that " my rights are your duties, and my duties are 
your rights." These two must then be married; they 
belong together by divine fiat. The spirit of the New 
Day, calmer than the spirit of battling men, insists that 
duty and right cannot be divided. They act and react 
upon each other. The fight for rights has an incom- 
plete justification unless it is accompanied by a recog- 
nition of obligations. Not only so, but the spirit of 
the New Day urges that ultimately the victory for 
rights is fully won only by those who fulfill their duty. 
This is merely a modern interpretation of the old 
truth that " he who would save his life must lose it "; 
" he that would be first among you, let him be your 
servant." The magic word " service " is the key- 
stone in the arch of the new social structure. If each 
man, each class of workers, each country could con- 
tribute to the common good its full measure of service, 
the rights of them all would be safe. 

The spirit of the New Day then seems to call for ( I ) 
a far better chance for the common man; (2) the in- 
telligent planning of human progress; (3) a recon- 
ciliation between organized effectiveness in human work 
and life that also leaves individuals and classes truly 
free; (4) an insistence upon service to fellow men as 
the great motive in life, believing that thus social jus- 
tice can best prevail. 



CHALLENGE OF NEW DAY 27 



THE CHALLENGE TO THE FARMER 

Do these great ideals call to the men who are on 
the land? If they do, how may they be interpreted in 
terms of the work and life of the people who farm? 
This interpretation makes a challenge to the mind and 
heart of every farmer. What is the challenge ? 

1. That the farmer's duty is to help feed and clothe 
the world. He is designated by society as the steward 
of the soil. He is the keeper of the land — the most 
precious material resource of humanity. He owns 
or controls the land on terms which society as a whole 
rightfully prescribes. He has no right to use the land 
merely for his own immediate benefit. He has no right 
to deplete its fertility; the land will be needed, sorely 
needed, ages after he has lived out his brief span. He 
did not put into the soil its nitrogen, nor its potash, 
nor its phosphoric acid. He does not make the rain — 
the former and the latter rain, nor the sunshine and 
heat of summer, nor the busy bacteria which work 
among the grains of soil. He may plant, but God 
giveth the increase. He is merely God's tool, His 
human instrument, in feeding a hungry world. The 
farmer has a solemn, unescapable obligation to his 
fellow men — to use every acre under his control to 
its fullest safe capacity for producing food for those 
who cannot produce it for themselves. 

2. That the farming group, like other groups, shall 
have a fair reward for its labor. The world has not 
as yet been able to decide what forms the basis for a 
" fair " reward. Heretofore reward has been largely 
a matter of taking what toll one can get as the goods 
or service pass through the hopper of personal or cor- 
porate control. Competition in efficiency, demand and 



28 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

supply have been the rough measures by which reward 
was iinally determined. That this process will con- 
tinue there is little doubt, but it will take on at least 
one new aspect. The quest for efficiency will not be 
left to the individual alone, but efficiency will be re- 
garded as a social duty, a thing in which society as a 
whole is profoundly interested. How to make each 
man as efficient as he can be made, is going to be the 
great business of society. All the elements of effi- 
ciency — health, skill, intelligence, ambition, and incen- 
tive of reward — will be recognized. Furthermore, 
it will be found that efficiency must be defined. It is 
possible to have cheap goods made by cheap men. But 
men are of more consequence than materials. So with 
the farmer. He must make himself as efficient as pos- 
sible. The best possible instrumentalities of educa- 
tion must be placed at his disposal by a society that is 
vitally interested in his efficiency. But society will in- 
sist also that the whole scheme of things shall be such 
that each farmer may have a decent living. If the 
farmers as a class cannot have a reasonable profit,. they 
cannot farm; and if they do not farm, society will not 
obtain the food it needs. We are not discussing just 
here the methods or amounts of rewards; we are sim- 
ply trying to make clear that the permanent service of 
the farmer to society cannot be fuliilled unless he can 
be assured a reasonable income for his effort. He has 
a right to assert his right to a fair reward. 

3. That the farmers, like other groups, must or- 
ganize in order to meet world situations, but organize 
in such a way that the farmer as an individual retains 
his freedom. A plan for building up the business of 
agriculture must be developed. An agricultural policy 
and a definite program of operations must be evolved. 



CHALLENGE OF NEW DAY 29 

There must be no longer a mere drift into activities. 
Statesmen must be made to see the significance of agri- 
culture in the national economy and even in the mutual 
interchange of different nations. Adequate machinery 
of government must be made available for aid to the 
big agricultural enterprises. Collective action of farm- 
ers must replace the futile aims of single handed en- 
deavor. Leaders, equal to every demand of the New 
Day, must spring from the loins of the farmers them- 
selves. 

4. That the farmer shall have his proper place in 
the new democratic society. But let it be understood 
that farmers cannot take their rightful place in national 
or in world councils unless they make the place for 
themselves. It is far from a mere matter of aggres- 
siveness due to powerful group associations or wordy 
assertions. They must have something to contribute. 
The farmers must make clear to themselves what 
democracy really is, how they can best fit into it, what 
are their relations to the rest of society, what are their 
particular rights and their peculiar duties; they must 
be able to express all these things to themselves and to 
others. 

These items then constitute the challenge to the 
farmer which comes out of the New Day: (1) That 
his task is to feed the world; (2) that in doing it he 
must have a fair profit; (3) that he must organize his 
forces both for his own interest and in society's interest; 
and (4) that he must have his due place in the new 
democracy. 



CHAPTER III 

THE RURAL PROBLEM 

If, in a group of one hundred men and women, com- 
posed of leaders in rural affairs — officers in farmers' 
organizations, rural school supervisors, directors of 
agricultural experiment stations, deans of agricultural 
colleges, government agricultural officials — one were 
to ask each person the question, " What is the rural 
problem? " it is probable that there would be no uni- 
formity of reply. Each answer would in a large meas- 
ure be influenced by the particular work the individual 
had in hand, or special difficulties which he had en- 
countered. A few years ago an official of high stand- 
ing in the government said that the rural problem in 
America was " better farming." James J. Hill, a man 
of masterful mind, concluded apparently that to in- 
crease the production per acre was the main need of 
our farming. 

There is, however, no one part of the rural question 
that overtops all others. Rural improvement consists 
of many elements, all closely bound together, each af- 
fecting and influenced by the others. We must try to 
see the rural problem as a whole. Some years ago in 
Ireland, Sir Horace Plunkett announced a slogan that 
helps us to see that the problem of the farmer is big- 
ger than any one difficulty or need of improvement: 
" Better farming, better business, better living." It 
might be a little clearer though perhaps no stronger if 

30 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 31 

it read, Better farm practice, better farm business, bet- 
ter farm life. Do we not find at least these three great 
classes of problems in every farming community in the 
land? The farmer must produce in the most skillful 
way, with the least possible expenditure for materials 
and labor, and with the aim of securing as large a 
yield of high grade products as possible. When he 
sells his products to buy his requirements, he confronts 
an entirely new set of problems. Then, even if he 
makes a fair profit out of his producing and his selling, 
what is the real gain unless he and his family can and 
do have a satisfying life as members of their neighbor- 
hood? 

A NEW APPROACH NECESSARY 

We have heretofore approached the farm business 
from the standpoint of production. We have been 
asked, What can farmers produce? We must face 
about and begin the discussion of problems with the 
query, What do consumers want? This will be a hard 
saying to many men, but it is the beginning of the new 
wisdom about our agriculture. We have said to farm- 
ers " Produce, produce, produce ! " We have given 
away land by the million acres in order to stimulate 
production. Men purporting to speak for farmers 
have even said: "Why worry about the consumer? 
He will take care of himself. Let us take care of the 
farmer." Agricultural colleges have experimented 
and taught and advised concerning production. But 
for years past, any farmer would tell you that his big 
problem was not one of production, but of selling to 
advantage. The war has taught us that the task of the 
farmer is to grow food and other soil-grown materials 
for the rest of the people. The reasoning is plain. 



32 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

The farmer grows wheat. Why? To sell it, of course. 
To whom will he sell it? Always to the people who 
eat bread and who can't produce wheat. If the farmer 
does not produce enough, prices will be so high that 
consumers can't have what they need. If farmers 
produce too much, prices will be so low that farmers 
cannot afford to grow. If the world needs four billion 
bushels of wheat, the farmer's task is to produce ex- 
actly that amount, at as low a cost of production as 
possible, with a fair profit for his toil. This arrange- 
ment cannot be achieved completely in practice; but 
it is the big thing to try for. We must think then of 
farming as mainly an effort to supply the demand for 
food. 

We now begin at the other end — the wrong end. 
But we must find out what the folks of the world 
want to eat, where they want it, in what form they want 
it and when they want it. The farmers must then un- 
dertake to meet these wants. In the New Day, the 
prime condition of the farmer's success consists in 
relating his work to the whole program of food supply. 
It is legitimate for him to try to change consumption; 
he may seek to persuade consumers to increase the use 
of certain products, to purchase the better and more 
expensive grades, to buy home grown products, etc. 
But the great currents of food demand determine the 
farmer's task. Of course, we must add to " food " 
all other products grown from the soil, including ani- 
mal feeds such as hay and other forage; materials for 
clothing and other fibers such as cotton, wool, hemp 
and flax. Taken together, these other products repre- 
sent a very considerable proportion of the agricultural 
industry. Hence for example, in 19 14, while the wheat 
crop of the United States was worth $878,680,000, 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 33 

the cotton crop was worth $591,130,000 and the hay 
crop $546,492,400. 

AN OUTLINE OF THE FOOD AND FEED PROBLEM x 

This necessity of relating the farmer's work to the 
food supply is so fundamental that it is worth while 
to take space to make an outline of the entire problem 
of food supply, in order that we may see the more 
clearly where the farmer's job begins and ends. 

THE FOOD AND FEED SUPPLY PROBLEM 

(FOR ANY REGION — LOCAL, STATE, COUNTRY OR WORLD) 

Food Requirements 

Kinds and amounts of normal demand 
Grain and grain products 
Meat and meat products 
Dairy products 

Vegetables and vegetable products 
Poultry and eggs 
Fruits and nuts 
Sea food 
Food Resources 

Land : Tilled ; tillable but unimproved ; wet, arid and cut 

over 
Labor: Family; hired 
Equipment: Buildings; machinery 

Fertilizers : Commercial — kinds ; amounts ; sources — 
barnyard 
Food Production 
Present 

Human food — kinds and amounts 
Grown 

1 This outline is adapted from one made by Miss Lorian P. Jefferson 
from suggestions furnished by members of the staff of the Massachu- 
setts Agricultural College together with a most admirable food supply 
chart prepared by the Food Problem Committee of the Merchants 
Association of New York City. 



34 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Food Production — continued 

Marketed 

Purchased 
Animal feed — kinds and amounts 

Grown 

Marketed 

Purchased 
Economic (desirable substitutions) 
Kinds 
Quantities 
Nutritive values 
Prices or costs 
Suggested changes 

Better farm management as to 

Competing crops 

Competing crop areas 

Markets 
Community organization 

For production 

For farm business 
( i ) Purchase 
(2) Sale 

For use of labor 

For credit 
Provision for seeds, fertilizers, machinery 
Insurance facilities 
Credit facilities 
Legislation as to 

Marketing 

Land transfers 

Leases 

Protection of stock, etc., etc. 
Economics of production 
Food versus feed 

Live stock versus grain, vegetables, etc. 
Labor for agricultural production versus labor for 
industry 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 35 

Transportation of food versus transportation of feed. 
Food essentials versus non-essentials in agriculture 
Comparative costs, by regions 
Food Distribution 

Exports and imports 
Transportation agencies 
Railroads 
Ship lines 
Trolley lines 
Trucks 
Express 
Parcel post 
Local food movements 
Storage 
Farm 

Commercial 
Household 
Standardization of grades and packages 
Collective preparation 
Bargaining: Individual; collective 
City marketing 
Public markets 

Prices : Determination ; publication 
Prevention of waste and spoilage 
Assistance in marketing : Marketing agents; market news 

service 
Inspection 
Food Conservation 
Commercial 

Manufacture 

Vegetable products 
Meat products 
Fish products 
Fruit products 
Culls, seconds, surplus 
Wastes 
Preparation 
Bakeries 



36 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Food Conservation — continued 
Delicatessen 
Hotels and restaurants 
Storage 
Wastes 

Variety . 
Servings 
Home and Commercial 
Preservation 
Canning 
Drying 
Pickling 
Salting 
Smoking 
Home 

Storage 
Cellar 
Pit 

Pantry 
Wastes 
Table 
Market 
Farm 

Diseases: Plant and animal 
Pests: Insects and weeds 
Wastes through 
Rats and mice 
Improper curing 
Improper threshing 
Careless handling 
Shrinkage 
Garden wastes 
Skim milk wasted 
Methods of control 
Transportation 
Faulty icing 
Improper heating 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 37 



Poor care 
Delays in transit 
Overloading 
Underloading 
Duplication of delivery 
Shrinkage in transit 
Dining car service 
Preparation 
Storage 
Servings 
Food Use — Home and Hotel 
Nutrition 

Food requirements 
Well selected diets 
Modified diets 
Desirable changes 

Racial preferences 
Household 
Children 
Meals for large groups 

Hotels and restaurants 
Public institutions 
Camps, etc. 
Diseases due to faulty diets 
Standards 

Suitability 
Wholesomeness 
Cleanliness 
Purity 

Labor involved 
Relative cost 
Marketing 
Selection 
Prices 

Market news service 
Storage and refrigeration 
Preparation 

Equipment 



3 8 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Food Use — Home and Hotel — continued 
Cooking 
Serving 
Wastes 

THE FARMER'S PROBLEM 

This outline of the problem of the world's food 
supply gives us a starting point from which to discover 
the problem of the farmer. He is the supplier of soil 
grown materials. There is no need for his labor un- 
less his products are wanted and used. The difficulties, 
needs and possibilities of the farmer's occupation arise 
from his effort to supply the world's food and other 
materials immediately dependent upon the soil. So- 
ciety needs things that can be secured only through the 
use of the soil. The man who uses the soil to meet 
this need is the farmer. If we could treat the farms 
of the world as one big farm, we would first discover 
the food needs to be met by what the soil can produce. 
The fundamental question in agriculture is, " What 
special needs, difficulties, and possibilities does the 
farmer face as he seeks to become most effective in this 
task of supplying the world's food? " 

Before proceeding, it might be wise to state that in 
this book the words agriculture or farming are used to 
mean the industry or occupation of growing things 
from the soil, both plants and animals; country life or 
farm life includes the so-called social aspects of agricul- 
ture, that is, the things that affect the welfare of people 
that live together in the country, such as education, 
recreation, health; rural is used for the whole range of 
interests attached to farmers and farming as over 
against the city or urban interests. 

It is not the purpose of this book to discuss the spe- 



THE RURAL PROBLEM . 39 

cific methods by which the needs and difficulties of 
farmers may be met. While such a discussion is of the 
utmost practical importance, it must be left to an- 
other time or to another pen. The matter of most 
immediate consequence is to discover if possible what 
the farmer's problems are. We want first to map out, 
as it were, the geography of the farmer's job. It is 
recognized that a mere outline of the problem does not 
get us very far with respect to what might be called 
practical methods of farm improvement. Those prac- 
tical methods, however, are pretty widely known among 
farmers and there are whole libraries written about 
them. What is more important just at this stage in the 
development of our American agriculture is, first of all, 
to get a picture of the entire problem, if we can, for 
the reason that heretofore nearly all discussions of 
agricultural questions have dealt with but a part of the 
problem. Usually emphasis is placed upon greater 
crops, or collective bargaining, or control of trans- 
portation by the government, as if these were the chief 
or even the sole methods of improvement, whereas we 
can advance agriculture only as we develop system- 
atically and constantly all along the line. Moreover, 
the principal reason for writing this book is not to call 
attention to detailed methods of procedure, but to cer- 
tain large principles that need to be applied in a states- 
manlike fashion; details will follow. It is therefore 
hoped that this outline, fragmentary as it is, will serve 
its purpose in laying before the reader the breadth, 
the scope, and the significance of the farmer's problem. 
These problems may be grouped somewhat as fol- 
lows: 



4 o THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

I. THE PROBLEMS OF RURAL IMPROVEMENT 

1. In methods of controlling the necessary forces 
and materials of production. 

2. In farm practice, or the production of crops and 
animals. 

3. In methods of farm management and farm busi- 
ness. 

4. In methods of farm organization. 

5. In farm life. 

II. SOME NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS 

1. Among the farmers themselves. 

2. Between the interests of farmers and others. 

I. THE PROBLEM OF THE BETTER CONTROL OF THE 

NECESSARY FORCES AND MATERIALS FOR 

PRODUCTION 

1. The Control of the Land Itself. Land owner- 
ship gives the most complete control. The retired 
farmer has less control than the owner who works his 
own farm. The absentee landlord has only a mini- 
mum of actual control. Land may be owned by the 
state and leased to the men who work it. We must 
learn very soon what on the whole is the best method 
of land control in order that both farmers and con- 
sumers may have the largest possible benefits. 

2. Land Acquire 111 cut. Farmers in America for- 
merly got their land from the government. This is no 
longer true to any large degree. It is coming to be 
difficult for the young farmer to acquire a farm. Only 
two solutions are apparent. One is for the govern- 
ment itself to purchase land and sell it to new owners in- 
dividually or in colonies with liberal credit and easy 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 41 

payments; or for large groups to do the same thing, 
either as private corporations for gain or cooperative 
land societies. 

3. Land Rental. Rental under right conditions may 
secure very effective use of the land. Tenant farming 
does not tend as a rule toward building up permanent 
farm community interests. Very short leases are disas- 
trous both to farming and to country life. Permanent 
tenure can be made satisfactory only when the tenant 
is given a share in permanent improvements. 

4. The Control of Capital. Need for capital in 
farming is rapidly increasing because of increased cost 
of land, need of land improvements by drainage, etc., 
larger need for machinery and other equipment, higher 
cost of labor. The farmer needs both long term 
credit and short term credit, the one for land purchase 
and permanent improvements, and the other in order 
to take advantage of better terms in securing his sup- 
ply of seeds, fertilizer, feeds. Mercantile or store 
credit is very costly in interest and should be abolished. 
One difficulty in securing credit for farmers is that the 
American farmer is as a rule unwilling to become a 
party to a plan whereby the farmers of a community 
collectively become responsible for the debts of the in- 
dividuals of the community. Farmers have collectively 
enormous assets which ought to be made available for 
each worthy member of the partnership. 

5. Control of the Labor Supply. The farmer has 
to compete now-a-days with industry for his labor, in 
the matter of wages, housing, hours. One of the big- 
gest problems of the future lies in answering such ques- 
tions as how to keep labor employed throughout the 
year; how to educate the laborer so that he becomes a 
skilled farmer; whether women in America will do 



42 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

more farm work than formerly; how to use boy labor 
without sacrifice of education; the relations of farmers 
to farm labor organizations; and how to encourage 
the farm laborer to become eventually a farm owner. 

6. The Control of Materials and Power. Com- 
mercial interests have served the farmer reasonably 
well in supplying seeds, fertilizer, stock feeds, machin- 
ery, but only to a small extent in supplying power. The 
government will probably have to intervene in es- 
tablishing a democratic use of water power for the 
making of electricity. Farmers, however, will need 
to cooperate much more freely than now in the pur- 
chase of power, as well as of their other supplies. 

II. THE PROBLEM OF IMPROVEMENT OF FARM PRAC- 
TICE, OR THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS 
AND ANIMALS 

1. Improvement of the Soil. This means securing 
greater depth of soil; more complete friability; more 
adequate control of water in the soil; proper adapta- 
tion of special crops to special soils; prevention of plant 
food waste and erosion; and in general, the question 
of permanent fertility. 

2. The Improvement of Crops, by getting the great- 
est possible yields; improving the quality and food or 
feed value; securing disease and drouth resistant vari- 
eties. 

3. The Improvement of Animals in size, quality, 
temperament, healthiness, etc. 

III. IMPROVEMENTS IN FARM MANAGEMENT AND 
FARM BUSINESS 

i. The Purchase of Supplies. It is only by col- 
lective or cooperative purchase of supplies and equip- 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 43 

ment that farmers can get the best prices and terms. 
So long as the individual farmer buys his supplies at a 
disadvantage, he is economically handicapped. 

2. Standardizing the Product. The greatest single 
difficulty which the individual farmer faces is due in 
part to the wide variety of crops grown in a given 
locality and to a great variation in quality. The rem- 
edy in general lies in inducing farm communities to 
produce fewer things, to produce those for which the 
region is particularly adapted, and then through co- 
operation, to secure proper grading, careful and honest 
packing, and wherever feasible, proper labeling. 

3. In the Transportation of Products. Good roads 
and the motor truck will play a rapidly increasing part 
in initial transportation. Rural trolleys will help to 
a growing extent. The main dependence for standard 
crops is the railway system. One of the most im- 
portant reforms is the adjustment of freight rates as 
between the long haul and the short haul in order that 
both the distant producer and the nearby farmer may 
both have substantial justice. 

4. The Problem of Storage. The purpose of stor- 
age is to keep such part of the product as is not im- 
mediately necessary, until it is needed by the consumer. 
The farmer believes, and probably with reason, that 
those who control storage facilities exact unfair toll 
from the farmer. The difficulty lies less in dishon- 
esty than in the fact that the whole system is purely a 
profit making affair. The storage system should be 
organized and controlled as primarily a method of 
relating supply and demand. 

5. The Selling of Crops. In case of fruits, vege- 
tables, and poultry products, producer and consumer 
may be brought together face to face in public or com- 



44 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

munity markets where they may make their bargain. 
For most crops, the middleman is indispensable. He 
should not be abolished but redirected. We shall 
never have satisfactory methods of marketing farm 
products until we have a thoroughly organized group 
of producers, each group with its special product, 
dealing directly with well organized groups of con- 
sumers, or with well organized groups of middlemen 
whose activities are regulated by the government in 
the interests of both producers and consumers. 

6. The Farmer's Interest in Manufacture and Care. 
The conservation and processing of farm products has 
gone largely into the hands of commercial concerns. 
The farmer, however, has a moral obligation to elim- 
inate all wastes on the farm itself. Community enter- 
prises looking toward the manufacture or preservation 
of certain products, both for use in the community itself 
and as a business venture, will probably increase. 
There is a vast waste in double transportation; for 
example, wheat is shipped one thousand miles for mill- 
ing and the flour is brought back to the farm region 
where the wheat was grown. 

7. Protection and Insurance. The farmer wages 
a constant battle against insect pests, diseases of plants 
and animals, unfavorable natural conditions such as 
weeds, flood, drouth, frost, wind, hail, fire. Wide- 
spread education, mutual insurance and cooperative 
action seem to be the main solutions. One of the big- 
gest problems of protection is whether it is possible to 
insure the farmers to some extent against loss due to 
inadequate knowledge of market conditions, such as 
spoilage in food products, forced sales of products 
due to lack of credit, and market gluts. 

8. The Re-investment of Farm Profits is not as yet 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 45 

a burning question but is not unimportant. Why can 
not farmers utilize their surplus when they have it, 
for the building up of the community in which they 
live? 

IV. THE PROBLEM OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE 

FARM 

1. The Farm and its Equipment. It would be very 
helpful to have a standardization of farms on the basis 
of the most economic type and size of farm and the 
amount of capital and equipment in stock and machin- 
ery needed to operate the farm to best advantage. 

2. The Permanent Improvement of the Farm. 
How can the farmer best secure a gradual improve- 
ment of his stock, complete a system of under drainage, 
provide economic but adequate and convenient build- 
ings, and utilize labor-saving devices? 

3. Bookkeeping and Accounting. There is great 
need of adequate records and accounts simplified so that 
the average farmer can follow the plan. There are 
really two problems, one that of accurate business 
accounts and the other that of proper records which 
when interpreted will help the farmer to adjust his 
methods of management to the securing of greater 
economies of time and labor. 

4. The Use of Labor. How may labor be secured 
at any price and how retained? One of the big ques- 
tions is how to employ during the winter months farm 
labor needed only during the growing season, in order 
that labor may be satisfied and be available more con- 
tinuously for the farmer. 



46 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



V. THE IMPROVEMENT OF FARM LIFE 

Means of Communication. It has been said that the 
problem of the city is congestion and the problem of the 
country isolation. In the city there are too many peo- 
ple to the square mile; in the country there are too few. 
Rural free mail delivery, the rural telephone, the rural 
trolley, to a degree, and the automobile have quite 
changed the aspect of country life. The problem is not 
yet solved, however, the greatest difficulty being that of 
getting and maintaining at reasonable expense a com- 
plete system of good highways, that reaches practically 
every farmer. The success of the consolidated school 
and of the community church, as well as economical 
transportation of farm products, hinge on this issue. 

Home-making. The farm home is intimately at- 
tached to farm work. It must contribute to the profit 
of the farm, to the physical efficiency of the members 
of the family, to the most complete training of the chil- 
dren in character and citizenship, and make itself felt 
in the upbuilding of a satisfying community. The 
farmhouse should be convenient and beautiful within 
and without. It is possible to develop a system of 
home management that will reduce drudgery and en- 
courage the life of the mind and the spirit. 

Means of Education. We must make sure that the 
rural school gives the country boy and girl just as good 
an education for life either in country or in city as is 
given to the city boy and girl. Moreover, the country 
school should contribute more completely to the educa- 
tion of the adults of the community. Ideally, the peo- 
ple of the community will stay in school all through life. 
We must maintain a system of agricultural education, 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 47 

through schools and colleges and experiment stations 
and extension service and farm bureaus, that will reach 
effectively and practically the entire farm population. 
We should develop the habit of reading and study with 
a better system of rural public libraries. Continuation 
schools must be provided for the boys and girls who 
are no longer all the time in school, but who ought to 
keep up their schooling much longer than they do. 
And in general, we must stimulate the masses of farm- 
ers to closer study not only of their own problems, but 
of the problems of the New Day. 

Rural Government. How can we make local gov- 
ernment more efficient, more honest? Probably we 
can do more for the people of the community through 
the local machinery of government. We already sup- 
port schools and build roads. Can we not furnish 
other facilities of community life? Can we not make 
legislation, both in state and nation, more in keeping 
with the needs of rural improvement? 

Health and Sanitation. We need a large program 
of education for farm people, especially those in less 
prosperous regions, in the full meaning of personal hy- 
giene, the very best care of the body, the very best die- 
taries, and in public health, in order to stamp out epi- 
demics, secure care of sewage, restrict the spread of 
contagious diseases. In many ways these things are 
much more difficult to handle in the country than in the 
city. 

Recreation. This is one of the great lacks of coun- 
try life. We need a more adequate play life for the 
young and a thoroughly satisfying social life for the 
adults. We must bring into the country some of those 
legitimate opportunities for pleasure that people of the 



48 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

city have. Better than this, we would encourage the 
country people themselves in the making of their own 
recreation. 

Country Planning. The roads, the buildings, the 
village parks, all of the material arrangements of the 
country, should be carefully planned. 

Social Welfare. There is need in the country as 
well as in the city for helpfulness to those not well cir- 
cumstanced; the insane, the feeble-minded, the poor, 
the sick, the unfortunate. We can organize better than 
we have thus far the spirit of helpfulness. It is not 
enough that we have the neighborly interest; we must 
also have the skilled aid. 

Morals and Religion. How can we maintain the 
highest and finest ideals of personal character and of 
community life? How can we make religion real in 
the work of the farm and in the living together of the 
people? How can we assist the country church, the 
Y. M. C. A., the Sunday School, to be of the largest 
possible service in the country? 

SOME ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT 

We have outlined the problem of rural improvement 
in a most sketchy way but we have not yet quite told the 
whole story. All that has gone before calls for a cer- 
tain balancing of interests. There are adjustments to 
be made from time to time. There are diverse inter- 
ests that have to be reconciled. We never can " solve " 
the farm problems as problems of arithmetic can be 
solved. In our search for constant improvement, we 
find the constant need of establishing new relationships 
by the people, of developing new methods of doing 
business. What is right and fair at one time may not 
be right and fair at another time because of changing 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 49 

conditions. So let us consider for a moment some of 
these adjustments that the farmers must recognize. 

ADJUSTMENTS AMONG THE FARMERS THEMSELVES 

We must secure a sort of balance between the inter- 
ests of the individual and the interests of the farmers as 
a whole. This, of course, is a need everywhere in the 
world. It is not by any means true that if each indi- 
vidual is left to follow his own interests the interests of 
all will be gained. This is simply the " law of the 
jungle "; the strong win, the interests of the weak are 
over-ridden. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to agricul- 
tural business cooperation in America is the fact that 
the most prosperous and efficient farmers in the com- 
munity do not see the need of pooling their interests; 
they are not willing to sacrifice a little for the sake of 
those who would be greatly helped by common action. 

Balance between Sub-Industries. When a new op- 
portunity in agriculture shows itself, it may become so 
popular as to crowd out other forms of production 
which are fully as essential. Fruit growing in the irri- 
gated districts of the West not only encroached upon 
fruit growing in the East, but hindered the development 
of dairy and stock farming to which the irrigated areas 
are peculiarly adapted. 

Balance between Sectional Interests. One of the 
most serious of all rural questions is the competition of 
regions. The apple growers of New England with 
those of the Pacific Northwest; the vegetable growers 
of Florida with those of Massachusetts; the sugar beet 
growers and the sugar cane growers; the farmers who 
grow cattle feed in the Middle West and the dairymen 
of the East who have to buy these feeds. We find here 
constant need of establishing fair relationships. 



5 o THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Regional Self-Support. It is a law of economics that 
the greatest efficiency in production comes when each 
region produces that which it can best grow, not neces- 
sarily that which it can grow better than some other re- 
gion. Each acre of land should be put to the best use 
for which it is fitted, considering soil, climate, labor, 
and market. Therefore it is neither practicable nor 
desirable that each country, or each state, or each 
county, or each community, should grow all that it con- 
sumes. But we have gone so far in producing for the 
distant market that we have not only neglected the 
nearby market which is often poorly supplied, but we 
have incurred an enormous expense for transporting 
and handling products which go back and forth. We 
need to establish certain zones or regions that up to a 
certain point can take care of themselves with refer- 
ence to the growing of their food. 

The Rural Village. There are perhaps ten million 
people in America living in villages that are set in a 
rural environment. The people are not farmers but 
they live in the midst of farmers. They are not city 
people. Their very existence depends upon the suc- 
cess of the farming regions around about, and yet there 
is often the sharpest antagonism between people of the 
village and the people of the country. The farmers 
believe that the village merchants exploit them at every 
opportunity. There is an odd notion among the 
merchants that in some way the farmers owe them a liv- 
ing. This antagonism shows itself in lack of social in- 
tercourse, in sharp political fights. How can we re- 
store the balance between the village, which includes the 
small " city " set in an agricultural region, and the 
farmers round about? Surely there is a way toward 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 51 

cooperation, a real community interest. Each can 
help the other. 

Permanent Agriculture without Caste. We have a 
shifting agricultural population. There is scarcely 
any part of America which has not suffered from over- 
frequent migration to the city or to other parts of the 
country. Ownership changes frequently. This imper- 
manence is not true everywhere, but it is characteristic 
of American agriculture. It cannot result in the best 
farming. It has not contributed to the best community 
life. Leadership is lost; yet we would not want every- 
body born in the country to stay in the country. The 
idea of keeping all the farm boys on the farm is the 
poorest policy we could follow. We cannot afford to 
arrange our rural education so that the boy is obliged 
to stay on the farm or go to the city handicapped in his 
preparation for life. The door from country to city 
must swing wide. There must be freedom of inter- 
course between city and country. We must not have a 
peasantry — a rustic group. In no parts of our coun- 
try must there be a possibility of farmers being looked 
down upon or being sharply distinguished from other 
classes in any way that marks them off as a caste. How 
then may we adjust our modes of living, our education, 
our country life, our village life, so that we shall secure 
the advantages of permanent occupation of the land 
without the disadvantages of a caste system? 

Some Special Problems. There is no doubt but the 
racial problems which have disturbed our country show 
themselves in agriculture. Special groups, such as the 
negro farmer, the mountaineer — able but isolated, the 
emigrant farmer — sturdy but foreign, must in some 
fashion be taken into the common lot. Only so car. we 



52 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

have a real democracy. How are we to do it? There 
is the question of grades or strata of farmers. In al- 
most any farm community we find a group of very 
prosperous and successful farmers, men who we say 
can " take care of themselves." Near the other end of 
the scale we find the " submerged tenth," men not very 
efficient. At the extreme end we find the hundredth 
man — the abandoned farmer. Between these ex- 
tremes, the great group of average farmers. So we 
have farmers small and farmers large; farmers wise 
and farmers foolish; farmers educated and farmers 
illiterate; and we find the need of adjusting our ideas 
and our methods of living together so that as far as 
possible these walls of separation may be broken down. 
The problem becomes a very interesting and acute one 
in any farm community when we note the prejudices in 
church or in secret societies, and how certain groups 
are inevitably excluded. We also find farmers with 
special difficulties; the man with the tiny farm, the land- 
less farmer, the laborless farmer, the farmer without 
capital, the farmer in the depleted rural community who 
would like to see a better day but is not hopeful that it 
can be brought about, and finally the farm laborer. 
Sometimes these matters do not seem like " problems "; 
but are rather taken for granted. They are important 
questions, nevertheless. 

ADJUSTMENTS BETWEEN THE FARMER AND OTHER 
INTERESTS 

The Balance between Producers and Consumers. 
We have had a great outcry because in some prosperous 
agricultural regions as well as in those less prosperous, 
the farm population has actually declined. At the bot- 
tom this change of population was simply an effort to 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 53 

adjust the number of producers to the number of con- 
sumers. Our land policy had developed too many pro- 
ducers. The application of scientific principles to pro- 
duction and the establishment of a nation-wide system 
of transportation enabled relatively fewer men to grow 
the food of the nation. But of course this may be car- 
ried too far. If we have too many producers, we get 
cheap food and also cheap men on the farm. If we 
have too few producers, the country is not adequately 
supplied with food. 

Adjustment in the Factors of Production. The 
problem is essentially this : How may the farmer com- 
pete with manufacturing and business interests for land, 
labor and capital? It is a question of proper relation- 
ships. The farmer must have his share of these or he 
cannot do his best work. He has to compete con- 
stantly with these other industries. How can we make 
sure that he has a fair Held ? 

Yield per Acre and Yield per Man. The strength 
of European agriculture lies in its large yield per acre 
of land. The strength of American agriculture lies in 
its large yield per man who works the soil. It is in the 
interests of consumers to have the maximum yield of 
food per acre; it is in the interests of producers to have 
the maximum return due each individual worker. But 
clearly, both of these things cannot happen at the same 
time. Somewhere we must find the fair balance. We 
must adjust the interests of both. How can we do it? 

The Conservation of Soil Resources. Less than for- 
merly do the farmers want to use their land even if they 
use it all up. It is a truism that the American farmer 
has skimmed the cream off the soil and then gone on 
west. Society, that is all of us together, which really 
owns the land, is interested to have it become more pro- 



54 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

ductive, whereas it has become less productive in many 
regions. Of course the good farmer has the same in- 
terest in keeping up production, but many farmers do 
not see it. They want immediate results. Clearly we 
need an adjustment that results both in that use of the 
land which gives a fair return to the farmer, and that 
use which preserves its fertility undiminished for future 
generations. 

Sharing the Savings. Both farmers and consumers 
would like to abolish the middleman's profits. The 
farmer rather expects to get most of the profits which 
the middleman has made, and the consumer, oddly 
enough, has the same ambition. Both cannot succeed. 
This tendency shows itself in a public market where 
householders buy of farmers. Each wants to get the 
best bargain possible. What eventually happens is 
probably a pretty fair trade, both getting some ad- 
vantage in this matter. This principle holds in the 
whole field of soil distribution. If economies of dis- 
tribution are effected, who is to get the benefit — con- 
sumer or producer? Both! It is a matter of adjust- 
ment. The answer lies in establishing fair trade. 

Agriculture and Other Business. Agriculture is our 
greatest business and yet it is often left out of account in 
plans for possible development. But its relation to 
manufacturing, to transportation, to commerce and 
even to finance is very close and even vital. Imagine if 
you can the farm lands of America lying unproductive 
for a single year. Moreover, it is clear that if these 
relationships of agriculture to other industries are so 
close, competing interests will show themselves. Inas- 
much as these industries are well organized and agricul- 
ture is poorly organized, the farmers are apt to be the 



THE RURAL PROBLEM 55 

losers. How can we adjust these big interests of these 
big industries so that all shall have the square deal? 

Agrarian Legislation. The farmer has an interest 
in taxation, in the tariff, in currency legislation. It is 
believed that legislators have a tendency to ignore this 
interest, but it cannot safely be ignored. If it results in 
too great injustice, then we have a radical movement 
which smashes its way through, perhaps to undesirable 
ends for all concerned. What we need, then, is an at- 
tempt to adjust, in all legislative matters, the fair inter- 
ests of farmers to the fair interests of other people. 

The Farmer in Politics. How can the farmers 
make themselves felt in our political life? As a party, 
shall they have representation in legislative business, 
somewhat equivalent to their numerical strength? 
Neither of these things seems very practicable, perhaps 
not even desirable. On the other hand, are the farm- 
ers to be left out of account and have nothing to say? 
Are they to have no unified opinion or desire that finds 
expression through the political party or the govern- 
ment? How can we find the balance between political 
neglect of the farmers and political revolution among 
the farmers? 

The Farmers and Organized Labor. Have these 
groups interests in common or are they absolutely an- 
tagonistic? If in common, where do these interests 
lie? If antagonistic, how may antagonism be allayed? 

Rural and Urban Aspects of Civilization. There 
are people who think that the city stands for civiliza- 
tion, that leadership, wealth, organization, power, will 
reside in the city and take the helm of society's progress. 
But have the farmers nothing to contribute? Are not 
their methods of living and of thinking worth some- 



56 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

thing to the common country? One of the most im- 
portant adjustments is to make it possible for organized 
farmers in every country in the world to make their 
fullest contribution in work, in thought, in ideals, to the 
common welfare of mankind. 



CHAPTER IV 

FARM PROFITS AND RURAL WELFARE 

There is one part of the rural problem that deserves 
further consideration at this point. As explained in 
the last chapter, it is not the purpose of this book to 
discuss the details of specific problems of farmers. 
But there is one aspect of the large general rural ques- 
tion that is of such vital consequence and yet is so seri- 
ously neglected in most plans for rural advancement, 
or even deliberately ignored as of relatively slight im- 
portance, that we must endeavor to bring it into its 
rightful place as a big phase of the relation of the 
farmer to the New Day. It is the " farm life " ques- 
tion. It has to do with the really human side, the true 
welfare aspect of agriculture. It may be called " The 
Country Life Problem." It is of sufficient significance 
in rural affairs to require our best thought and most 
ardent effort. 

The tendency to neglect or ignore this problem is 
well illustrated in the remark that one hears so fre- 
quently as to be most exasperating and disheartening: 
" Show the farmers how to make money and these other 
things will take care of themselves." By " these other 
things," often mentioned in a half-contemptuous way, 
are meant such matters as the health, the play, the 
reading, the morals, the religion, the politics of farm 
people. They are supposed to be minor interests — 
the real practical, man-size task is to tell the farmers 

57 



58 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

how they can make a profit, and then it will be time 
enough to talk about the "frills" — indeed these lesser 
difficulties will find their solution in the mere fact that 
farm people, having more money to spend, will spend 
it for better churches and schools. We hear this sort 
of advice not only from some farmers, but unfortu- 
nately more frequently from official leaders of farmers, 
even from agricultural college professors. It needs 
sharply to be challenged. It is barely even a half 
truth, and it is working great damage to the best inter- 
ests of the American farmer. 

Another mischievous doctrine, somewhat akin to the 
other, asserts that country people are "just like other 
folks." Of course, they are. The statement is abso- 
lutely true, if by it we mean that American farmers are 
not a special class or caste, to be set off by themselves, 
with peculiar methods of living and with unique needs. 
But it is untrue if it implies that the rural environment 
has little or no influence and that there is no such thing 
as the rural mind or point of view, or if it leads us to 
act upon the idea that the plans and methods successful 
in city work can be bodily transferred to the country. 
That idea has done much harm. It has spoiled many 
efforts at rural school improvement. It has retarded 
a statesmanlike attack on the country church problem. 
It has perhaps kept the government from attending as 
it should to the needs of the country. 

THE FARMER'S VIEW 

When the Roosevelt Country Life Commission ten 
years ago set out upon its journey for information, there 
was at the outset in some parts of the country a good 
deal of resentment expressed because the very existence 
of the commission seemed to imply the need of "up- 



FARM PROFITS AND WELFARE 59 

lift" for an ignorant, helpless and downtrodden class. 
In some instances even, resolutions of denouncement 
were passed by farmers' associations. The report of 
the Commission showed that its members had no such 
conception of the situation. But the feeling just de- 
scribed has persisted to such an extent that where an 
effort is made to study, discuss, or improve farm life 
conditions, there are those who cry "uplift," and the 
effort is at once thereby condemned. There is without 
doubt some basis for resentment against rural "slum- 
ming." There have been for many years past wild 
statements about rural decadence, especially in the east- 
ern part of the country. Men and women from the 
city, with good intentions but with an inadequate back- 
ground of knowledge or experience in rural affairs, have 
made "first-hand studies" of local farming regions, 
and from the very superficial material gathered have 
reached broad conclusions, almost always inaccurate, 
regarding the country life problem as a whole. In 
some instances there has been a tendency to investigate 
rural regions in merely curious fashion. Not seldom 
earnest efforts to help, where help was really needed, 
have been given with such obvious condescension and 
tactlessness that all has gone for naught. 

As a matter of fact the most thoughtful and far- 
sighted farmers have never failed to sense the signifi- 
cance of the human side of agriculture. The Grange, 
which is the oldest, the most broadly conceived, the best 
organized, and on the whole probably the most suc- 
cessful of the great farmers' organizations, has always 
stood four-square for what we now call the social aspect 
of the farm problem. In its famous "Declaration of 
Purpose," promulgated in 1873, it puts first among its 
purposes "To develop a better and higher manhood 



60 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

and womanhood among ourselves. To enhance the 
comforts and attractions of our homes." From the 
first, women were admitted to membership and to a 
share in responsibility. The " lecture hour " of each 
Grange meeting is intended for education and recrea- 
tion. The broad social purpose and work of the 
Grange have been conspicuous. The fraternal idea 
has been strong. The Grange has for half a century 
consistently followed these great principles of rural 
welfare and it would be impossible to persuade any 
responsible Grange body to take the position that we 
can afford to neglect or to leave to chance the problem 
of a nobler womanhood and a higher manhood. To 
do so would be to repudiate the organization and all its 
works. 

BAD SOCIAL CONDITIONS DO EXIST 

If we face facts, we shall soon find that there is ample 
cause for alarm with respect to rural life conditions. 
We can easily find rural areas so isolated that loneli- 
ness reigns supreme, with the attendant evils of con- 
stant drudgery, unrelieved monotony, even of insanity 
and other forms of decadence. There are farm homes 
almost completely lacking in comfort, convenience, or 
even in the mere elements of refinement. There are 
rural schools of a half-dozen pupils, housed in an un- 
kempt box of a building, taught by a half-trained 
teacher who is paid most meager wages. In some cases 
the amount as well as the quality of the schooling is 
pitifully inadequate. There are farmers who rarely 
take any recreation or permit their children to have it. 
There are places where the generally accepted rules of 
public health are unknown or unenforced, even places 
where common decencies are not observed. There are 



FARM PROFITS AND WELFARE 61 

regions that never heard of efforts to make the country 
home beautiful or convenient, much less the country 
landscape and the community buildings. There are 
areas of child neglect and abuse, of immorality and 
even of crime. There are neighborhoods of the weak, 
futile, competing, even quarreling churches, where it 
seems apparent that if God has not forsaken them, they 
have repudiated Him. 

We may not say that these facts are isolated and 
therefore not characteristic, for they exist far too fre- 
quently; nor call attention to the great multitude of 
instances where precisely opposite conditions prevail, 
for you can't drain a swamp merely by looking at a 
three-ton field of growing meadow. We may not say 
that the cities are worse; it is slight gain for the " vet- 
erinary " to try to comfort Smith for his sick horse 
by telling him that Jones has a better horse that is 
sicker. We may not call it a slander to tell the truth; a 
boil can't be cured by pretending that it is merely a 
wart. We would best admit that such things exist and 
that they are a menace. We have often been short- 
sighted with respect to them, because they are not all 
true of any one region, because there are so many in- 
stances of better things, because in some cases we are 
ignorant of their existence, and also, sometimes because 
we accept them as a part of the situation and not as a 
challenge to improvement. We must not blame the 
alert social worker from the city, where matters of this 
sort have been the subject of close study and of inten- 
sive effort toward relief, if when he gets his nose into 
the country cellar he reports odors that he doesn't ap- 
prove. 



62 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 

But to win our case for the importance of improving 
country life, it is not necessary to dwell at length on 
the great defects. We can fall back upon the general 
proposition that there is no farm community so good 
that it cannot be better. We can challenge with the 
assertion that "the best is none too good." If there is 
one thing in the community that is not what it ought to 
be, let us make it right. If there is one family in the 
neighborhood that can be aided by intelligent sympathy 
into a better way of living, shall it not be done ? Why 
worry about the effects of well-meaning city people or 
organizations, so long as we can, out of our own obser- 
vations and ambitions, find a way toward the betterment 
of our farm life ? 

THE CONCERN OF THE CITY 

It is often said that such matters as we have been 
mentioning are not the concern of the city anyhow and 
that urban discussion of country life is impertinent. 
But that is not correct. The war has taught us once 
and for all that no nation liveth or dieth unto itself 
alone. America now has a deep interest in every cor- 
ner of the earth. And so at home, we cannot enter the 
New Day fully prepared to meet its problems unless we 
are conscious that the problems of New York's East 
Side have a meaning for the farmers of the wheat belt ; 
and that the quality of farm life in every remote county 
of the land must have its bearing on the interests of 
the great city. There is a stream of human life con- 
stantly flowing from country to city; is it pure and 
wholesome or muddy and defiled? The answer is of 
vast concern to the city. A careless dairyman up in 



FARM PROFITS AND WELFARE 63 

the hills may be the cause of a great epidemic of disease 
in the city. The intelligence in political affairs, the ed- 
ucation, the morals, the general welfare of forty mil- 
lion rural folk are of prime consequence in our national 
welfare. 

BUT IS THE CONTENTION REALLY SOUND? 

We have been dwelling upon the importance of fac- 
ing the facts of country life, and upon the views of 
farmers about rural welfare itself. Let us now see just 
why, as a piece of argument, the doctrine that country 
life will take care of itself, provided the farmer makes 
a profit out of his business, is fundamentally unsound. 
What are the main objections to the statement? 
Chiefly that it isn't true at all, as usually put, and even 
contradicts itself. This purely business conception of 
the farm problem narrows the farm question, ignoring 
its most vital part, the real end of all human endeavor. 
Moreover, the idea, allowed to go unchecked, deprives 
us of some of the strongest helps we have for farmers 
struggling to win a fair monetary reward for their 
hard toil. 

It will be admitted that a condition of reasonable 
prosperity among the overwhelming majority of farm- 
ers is absolutely essential for any adequate kind of farm 
life. To assert anything else is sheer folly. The 
country preacher, teacher or social worker should not 
for one moment forget that a sound rural civilization 
must have for its foundation a bedrock of decent money 
income, a fair reward for toil. A good community 
life costs money. To supply good rural institutions 
costs money. But the converse is also true: That 
a prosperous farm business is not all of the farm prob- 
lem ; indeed, the desire for a satisfying life is often the 



64 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

fundamental cause of financial profit; a sound rural 
civilization must also have as secure foundation intel- 
ligence, morality, ideals of personal and community 
life. 

The " economic motive " — that is, the desire for 
gain — is very powerful with us all, but it is not the 
only motive. Love of home and children, patriotism, 
religious faith, all have their part in stirring men to 
their utmost endeavor. The high-minded farmer 
never works merely for profit; he wishes a reasonable 
income in order that he may educate his family as well 
as himself into a satisfying kind of life. He will de- 
liberately choose for his home, of two communities of 
equally fertile soil, the one that gives better promise of 
good schools and churches and neighborhood life. 

Nor is a good farm life wholly dependent upon 
profit, certainly not upon large profits. The beautiful 
family life, the honesty and honor, the loyalty and the 
religious faith of Robert Burns' cotter have been re- 
peated in all essential respects in tens of thousands of 
rural homes that enjoyed only a meager income, not 
only among the rugged Scotch farmers but wherever 
the ideals of true religion have prevailed. 

While it is true that some of the community improve- 
ments we most desire can come only as a result of ma- 
terial prosperity, this is often but an excuse for failure 
to improve. One strong active alert country church 
would- not cost a community as much as a half-dozen 
small struggling competing churchlets. Books and pe- 
riodicals, the habits of reading and of study, keenness 
of minds open to new ideas, the desire to try new ways, 

— these things don't wait for money — indeed they are 
the conditions of financial gain, rather than its results 

— more of that in a moment. 



FARM PROFITS AND WELFARE 65 

But the most alluring and the most dangerous as- 
pect of this general statement about " these things tak- 
ing care of themselves " is the idea that once a region 
becomes prosperous, then automatically the people 
themselves see to it that living conditions are improved 
in proportion. Once more we may admit that a pov- 
erty-stricken country simply cannot support a good 
farm life. But the facts are that a rich country also 
often fails to support a good farm life. Why do so 
many " well-to-do " farmers move to " town "? As a 
rule in order to have living advantages that they do not 
have in the country. The very profits that should go 
into improving local conditions go to rob the farm com- 
munity. There are whole regions where the individual 
farmers have grown rich and the farm life in the com- 
munity where they made their wealth has grown 
poorer. Is it not strange also, that we must devise 
laws, and organizations, and systems of education to 
help the farmer make a profit out of his business, but 
that we don't need to help him in those matters of home 
and community " uplift " because they " will take care 
of themselves"? Why not let profit take care of 
itself? Surely every farmer wants a profit. 

The economist, who is supposed not to be senti- 
mental, but who is obliged to weigh the motives that 
lead to wealth production, tells us that when men begin 
to secure more than a bare subsistence, what they want 
is likely to be the measure of what they get. " Greater 
profits in agriculture depend upon standards or pros- 
pective standards of living and comfort." If a farmer 
has an automobile ambition instead of a buggy ambi- 
tion, he makes his farm yield enough profit to enable 
him to buy an automobile. The desire for a piano is 
a stimulus to make the old farm buy a piano. If a com- 



66 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

munity wants a good schoolhouse, it gets it and pays for 
it because the farms of the region are made to pay bet- 
ter — partly at least on account of the wish of the peo- 
ple to have a better schoolhouse. We cannot be sure 
of all the reasons why we work harder than we other- 
wise might, but we do know that the increase of our de- 
sires stimulates us to greater and more effective toil. 
So that once more we find that the desire for " these 
other things " — education and recreation and good 
houses and books and reading and better churches — is 
really a wonderful stimulus to better farming. For 
farmers, like other people, do not work for money — 
only for what money will buy. What farmers want 
for their labor is not really profit — but the things and 
the experiences that their profits will get for them and 
their families. 

Worst of all, the doctrine we are endeavoring to 
combat strikes at the root of a really sane wholesome 
view of human life itself and tends to substitute means 
for ends. What does it profit a man if he gain the 
whole world and lose his own soul? W T hat is the gain 
in bigger barns if the man's life is required of him on 
the morrow? Shall we never, never learn the lesson? 
A man's work, yes even profit, is only a means to an 
end, and the end is — life. So with farming. Shall 
the farmer plow and sow and reap and gather into 
barns; toil early and toil late, sweat and strain, and go 
with gnarled fingers and bent shoulders, merely that 
he may wring a few more dollars out of it all? No; 
the end and purpose of " better farm practice " and of 
" better farm business " is a " better farm life." // 
we don't get that we fail! Let us not forget this 
truth. We must not, cannot disregard the means to 



FARM PROFITS AND WELFARE 67 

this great end; we must have better farming and better 
business. We must help the farmer here at every turn. 
But it is all done in order that out of it shall come the 
sort of farm life that the farmer deserves and that the 
nation wants him to have, for its own sake as well as 
for his. 

THE PRACTICAL ASPECT 

On the practical side, too, there is great harm done 
by the statement that " these things will take care of 
themselves " ! It works to prevent due study of coun- 
try life affairs, the fostering of rural agencies for social 
advancement, and especially does it tend to narrow in- 
terests and restricted views of the farm question. It 
keeps us from seeing the rural problem with two eyes. 
It discredits the work of teacher and preacher and 
social worker. It makes possible a wrong definition 
of " practical." For a book could be written proving 
that even in the effort to obtain greater profit the intan- 
gible " spiritual " things are the most effective. Here 
are two farmers on adjoining farms. One succeeds, 
the other fails. Why? Both are equally "helped." 
Both belong to the Grange, can receive the same agri- 
cultural bulletins from Washington and from the state 
experiment station, can attend the same extension 
school, belong to the same farm land bank, participate 
in the same farmers' exchange. What is the explana- 
tion? They are different men; that is all. Now un- 
less you believe that men cannot be improved, then you 
must admit that the thing to do with the failure is not 
to give him more helps toward profit, but to awaken 
him as a man. And you can best awaken him as a man 
only when you have touched the springs of character, 



68 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

have brought him to see his whole life in a new light. 
Perhaps he disregards ordinary rules of hygiene, and 
loses days and weeks of labor and time. Perhaps he 
works so hard he hasn't time to think, and no plans de- 
velop. Perhaps he just lacks the stimuli to thinking that 
come from neighborhood contacts. The man — es- 
pecially the young man — gets these stimuli in school, in 
church, in Grange, in sociable life, in books and reading 
— all social realities. It is these that shape his life 
and make him an efficient worker — not at all the mere 
quest for profit as a thing by itself. 

There is one more thing that needs to be said. Our 
American farming suffers from its transitory character. 
We do not want upon the land a peasant caste — a class 
out of which it is difficult to rise. But we do want a 
permanent agriculture, and we can't have a permanent 
agriculture unless the farmers love farm life as well as 
make a profit out of the farm business. 

WHAT THEN IS THE TRUTH? 

What we need is a true balance of forces, motives, 
and methods. Ideals alone produce visionaries; work 
for gain alone brings barrenness of real life. We need 
both. We need emphasis in rural affairs both upon the 
economic issue and the social problem. They should 
have equal attention for they are at least of equal im- 
portance. One cannot go ahead at full speed without 
the other. They must be driven double and not tan- 
dem. Let us give full measure of effort to the making 
of American agriculture more prosperous for the av- 
erage farmer; but let us also cherish with equal en- 
deavor and intelligence his highest, truest welfare. 
Let us learn that there is a place for the work of ex- 
perts in farm life as well as in farm practice or farm 



FARM PROFITS AND WELFARE 69 

business. Let us develop the agencies of country life, 
such as school and church, with as much zeal and ear- 
nestness as we devote to increasing production and se- 
curing better prices. 



CHAPTER V 

FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 

There has been developed in America, gradually but 
very steadily, an interest in the soil that is not farming 
in the older or ordinary sense of the word. It might 
be called the " twilight zone " between farm and city. 
It has to do with the food production in some measure, 
but its greatest significance arises from quite other as- 
pects and influences. Heretofore this twilight zone 
has not been of very much interest to the farmer. In- 
deed he has been inclined to treat it as something of a 
joke. He has enjoyed the thought of the city dweller 
fussing with a few vegetables and calling it farming. 
In a few cases where it has become a factor in produc- 
tion, the farmer has perhaps been moved to oppose it. 
But the war has brought out in a stronger light this new 
interest. The " war gardens " have grown apace. 
There have been millions of them. Now that the war 
is over, most of them will be discontinued, but many 
will persist, and some aspects of these war ventures 
will become important. In fact, we must recognize 
that in this twilight zone there is a very important field 
of effort in which the soil plays a large part. The 
farmer ought to be sympathetic toward it. He can 
afford on the whole to ignore the question of its effect 
on the prices of his products, because its influence is not 
likely to be very detrimental to him, while its develop- 
ment means so much for humanity that it ought to en- 

70 



FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 71 

list his sympathy. At any rate, it is probably inevit- 
able, and even if the farmer's business is affected, he 
will probably have to adjust his mind and plans thereto. 

We must not confuse this new field with what has 
been called the " back to the farm " movement. There 
are still some who believe that our agricultural problem 
is to be solved by a return migration from city to farm. 
This twilight zone of farming does not at all solve the 
farm problem; perhaps it complicates it. It may help 
mightily to solve the city problem, for looking at it in 
the large way, it promises not so much an economic 
gain for humanity as the evolution of a great welfare 
movement. It is likely to become a real asset in im- 
proved methods of living. It consists of a rather mis- 
cellaneous group of activities. At present, it is more 
in evidence in the East where the population is crowded, 
but it arises wherever there are large cities with huge 
factories and crowded living conditions. Let us re- 
cite quite briefly some of the items in this twilight zone 
of farming that is not farming. 

The Five-Acre Farm. The acreage suggested is a 
rough measure for what might be called " a farmlet." 
It ranges perhaps from three to ten acres. It has to be 
carried on as a rule near a large market, under a system 
of intensive cultivation and chiefly with vegetables, 
fruit, poultry or some combination of these, although it 
is quite common in some irrigated valleys in the West, 
especially where fruit is grown. There are cases of a 
more general type of farming practiced by the owner 
of the " little farm well tilled," but these are excep- 
tional. This small farm can support a family only 
where the market is good, the soil fertile, either natu- 
rally or under commercial fertilization, and where the 
family can do the work without hiring extra labor, ex- 



72 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

cept possibly for harvesting. In some cases such a 
place will be occupied by a family which has partial 
support from other sources, but desires the country life 
and work for the sake of health or the better education 
of children, or just for sheer love of the country itself. 
There is evidence that the number of these little farms 
is increasing quite rapidly, particularly near the Atlan- 
tic seaboard, north and south. Negro farmers in the 
south and recent negro immigrants to the north seem 
to seek these small places rather than continue as wage 
workers. There is every reason to suppose that with 
the growth of cities and the resultant better markets 
and the increase in the price of land, very small farms 
will become a characteristic feature of American agri- 
culture and will have a considerable influence upon cer- 
tain types of production. 

The W or king man' s Homestead. This is primarily 
not a matter of growing food but a chance to get a 
house. It is an expression of the desire to leave the 
crowded tenement and to find a separate house with 
land enough about it to insure good health, sunshine, 
and privacy. These little plots of one-tenth or per- 
haps not over one-twentieth of an acre, worked night 
and morning by the head of the house with more or less 
help from other members of the family, will grow a 
considerable quantity of fresh vegetables and fruits, 
accomplish quite a substantial saving in money, induce 
a larger consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables of 
much better quality than has heretofore been the case. 
This is by no means all the good that may come. In 
such a home, family life can be better developed than in 
the tenement. Children are educated by contact with 
growing things and get a little at least of the same ad- 
vantage that comes to the farm boy who learns early 



FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 73 

in life to deal with things practical. Not the least of 
its advantages is that it creates respect for the farmer. 
This movement had gained quite a headway in Europe 
prior to the war. It had shown itself chiefly in what 
are called the " garden cities " of England and to some 
extent in this country. No workingmen in the world 
are housed so well or, on the whole, live so well as those 
grouped in separate houses, not over eight families to 
an acre. Do farmers realize the difference between a 
housing plan that takes care of perhaps forty people on 
an acre and a housing plan, or lack of plan, that pur- 
ports to care for 4,000 people on an acre? This arith- 
metic preaches its own sermon on behalf of humanity. 
In some cases more ambitious workmen will undertake 
larger areas — perhaps the one-acre or two-acre plot, 
in which case more of the work will be done by the 
women and children in the family, or by the man him- 
self if employed chiefly in the winter, with light summer 
work. More and more frequently the workingman 
who can get enough land will seek to retire from wage 
earning before he reaches the dead line, because when 
his children are grown it may be possible for him and 
his wife to earn very comfortably the larger share of 
their living from this small plot. Before the war Bel- 
gium was perhaps the best instance of the development, 
on a large scale, of the workingman's homestead inso- 
far as numbers are concerned. Thousands upon thou- 
sands of Belgian workingmen living on " farms " of 
an acre or one-half an acre went many miles every day 
to and from their work. This was only possible where 
rapid transit at very low fares was common. In Bel- 
gium the government-owned railways provided these re- 
quirements. It is clear also that this movement in- 
volves the cooperation of large employers of labor, not 



74 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

only in the location of factories but by helping to pro- 
vide plans, credit, supervision, and education. The 
provision of workingmen's homesteads promises to be 
one of the great social movements of the New Day. 

The Factory Garden. This is, in America, purely a 
war development. The manufacturer sets apart or 
rents a considerable area, perhaps ten to forty acres, 
organizes it as a unit of management, and allots parcels 
to individual employees to till. This plan requires ex- 
pert supervision, as well as the preparation of the 
ground, the purchase and application of fertilizers, and 
probably the purchase of seed, by the employer. This 
scheme has proved substantially helpful in increasing 
the food supply of the workingman, but it is likely to be 
rather temporary as a large movement. It may, how- 
ever, play quite a part after the war for those working- 
men who are for any reason barred from garden cities 
and yet who wish to work parcels of ground. 

Use of Vacant Land in Cities. Twenty years ago, 
the mayor of Detroit, Michigan, caused a national 
smile by advocating the " Pingree potato patch " ; but it 
was a good idea. An enormous amount of absolutely 
idle land within the confines of every city is worse than 
useless because it is usually unsightly, it spreads weed 
seeds, and in a day when thrift is again coming to be 
a virtue, one rebels at the thought of waste anywhere. 
Again we may learn from Europe where, to a much 
greater extent than with us, these idle lands have been 
put to use. Generally speaking, this plan should be 
handled by municipalities. It cannot be very successful 
or widespread without invoking a compulsory law to 
bring such land into use under terms that are fair to the 
owner. The use of these plots needs organization and 
superintendence because most of the workers are not ex- 



FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 75 

perienced. They especially need protection from van- 
dalism. To thousands of dwellers of the tenements, 
the vacant-land garden would be a great boon. 

The Community Garden. The English government, 
during the war, has made a multitude of allotments of 
land to workingmen by which they can grow a portion 
of their own food. It is understood that food produc- 
tion in England has increased fourfold during the past 
two or three years, and that this increase is largely due 
to the small allotments to thousands of people who had 
never before grown any part of their food supply. 
Allotments may be handled by cities as just suggested, 
utilizing the vacant land. Another development may 
be the provision by the community, small or large, for 
its own fruits and vegetables. This may be either by 
arrangement with individual growers or by municipal 
management of the enterprise. 

Several successful community gardens have been con- 
ducted in Massachusetts during the past season. The 
city of Worcester furnished a tract of land, plowed and 
fertilized it, and divided it into plots of one-eighth of 
an acre. Any one might secure one of these, pay for 
the plowing and the fertilizer and plant what he wished. 
A garden supervisor was provided by the county farm 
bureau. The gardens have been counted as very suc- 
cessful. The town of Newton adopted a somewhat 
different method. The town furnished the ground, 
plowed and fertilized it and supplied seed potatoes for 
planting it. Any citizen of the town was allowed to 
work upon this tract and according to the amount of 
work each had done the crop was divided at the end 
of the season, after the expenses of plowing and fer- 
tilizer were deducted. This method likewise has been 
very satisfactory. 



7 6 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

'/'//(■ Home Garden. The home garden in the vil- 
lage or in the suburban town has long been character- 
istic of America. It does not need much attention 
from outsiders. It is an individual matter. To many 
people it constitutes one of the great attractions of the 
life in the smaller group. While it is to be encouraged, 
it can hardly be organized. 

The Farmer's Garden. There are thousands of 
farmers who regard a garden as a nuisance. They 
won't " fuss " with it. They have no time for it. 
They have " bigger things to do." So the garden is 
neglected and the result is an astonishing lack of variety 
on the farmer's table, where one would naturally expect 
the greatest variety. The luxury of fresh fruits and 
vegetables is missed by those who could have them most 
easily. In some whole regions of our country, canned 
fruits and vegetables are bought on store credit and 
used in lieu of home grown products. One of the big 
educational campaigns of recent years has been con- 
ducted by the Department of Agriculture to try to meet 
this astonishing situation. Some farmers have pro- 
posed that in a community of farmers whose chief inter- 
est is in stock growing or general farming, there might 
be either a community garden or an arrangement with 
certain individuals for the growing in the community 
itself of fresh fruits and vegetables, the other farmers 
furnishing the market. In other words, it would be 
perfectly feasible for an organized community either 
to arrange with one of its number to grow " garden 
sauce " for the neighborhood, or to hire a specialist to 
manage the community garden. 

Boys' and Girls' Gardens. The development of 
boys' and girls' gardens and of boys' and girls' agricul- 
tural and canning clubs has been one of the great educa- 



FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 77 

tional movements of our time. Indeed, its educational 
value is its chief value, although if we could have an 
accurate census of the value of the products grown by 
these hundreds of thousands of American boys and girls 
both in city and country, they would receive great praise 
for their practical contribution to our food supply. 
For the farm boy and girl this movement has awakened 
new interest in the science of farming, new interest in 
farm processes, new knowledge of scientific methods 
and a new love for growing things. It has given the 
zest of responsibility and possession. It is also aston- 
ishing to discover the extent to which city and village 
boys and girls have participated in this movement. It 
is estimated, for example, that in the state of Massa- 
chusetts this past season not less than 75,000 boys and 
girls who are not living on farms carried on gardens 
or even larger enterprises. There is much testimony 
to the awakening that has come to many a farmer and 
a farmer's wife through the successes of the boy and 
girl in trying new methods. It is difficult to overstate 
the importance to agriculture and country life of the 
boys' and girls' gardens. It is a selective process. It 
is foolish to try to keep all farm-bred boys and girls 
on the farm. It is equally foolish to seek a great mi- 
gration of city people to the country. But we do want 
something that will tend to keep the farm-minded boy 
and girl on the farm and to send the farm-minded city 
boy and girl to the farm. This the boys' and girls' gar- 
dens tend to do. It also will help greatly in making fu- 
ture consumers appreciative of good food, what it costs 
to grow it, and how it is to be cared for in the home. 

The Estate. By this is meant the country home of 
the man of means whose business is not farming at all. 
The practice of living in the country for at least half 



78 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the year is rapidly growing. It is a healthy, normal, 
educative movement. It leads to out-of-door life, to a 
new understanding of country things, and occasionally 
helps to educate a community to better farming. How- 
ever, the growth of estates in this country is likely in 
the near future to become a real problem. One can see 
what the possibilities are, if unrestricted, by studying 
the situation in Great Britain and Ireland up to very 
recent times. Of course with our abundance of land 
it will be a long while before the problem of the estate 
is a national concern. But already in some of the 
smaller states of the East, land that ought to be pro- 
ducing crops for nearby markets is monopolized for 
mere pleasure. Of course, if the farming of these 
estates were really made to pay, the estate would sim- 
ply become a large scale farm and would be judged on 
its own merits. It is said that in one county in the 
East nearly one-half of the land, some of it the very 
best farming land of the county, has gone into estates 
that probably will produce one-fourth of what the land 
would produce if farmed by small farmers growing 
truck crops for the nearby large markets. We have 
seen not only in Great Britain and Ireland but in Ger- 
many the government itself stepping in to break up the 
large estates. It is a question that may need our at- 
tention in America. 

Forestry. Theoretically forestry is a branch of 
agriculture. When we are fully alive to its importance, 
we shall treat trees as crops. It will require, however, 
a very great stretch of the imagination to think of 
forestry as a branch of farming. The farm wood lot, 
however, is much more worth while than it seems to 
most farmers. The time will come when it will be 
worth while really to conserve our coal, and a not un- 



FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 79 

important item in this conservation program will be the 
prevalence of wood-burning furnaces in the farm homes, 
the wood being obtained either from wood lots or the 
home farm. In the aggregate, this practice would re- 
sult in an immense saving of coal. Forests are the only 
crop that can be grown in all rough or mountainous 
regions. Great areas in both the East and West are 
useless for anything else, and they are now producing 
only intermittently and fitfully their full capacity of 
forest products. It is almost impossible to expect in- 
dividual owners to change this situation. Possibly trust 
companies can be encouraged to invest in and develop 
forest areas on a scientific basis as a means of utilizing 
funds in their charge. But in general it may be said 
that the only possible way of establishing and main- 
taining an adequate forest policy is for the government 
to do it. Not only the federal government but each 
state should be moving in this direction as rapidly as 
possible. It means the best use of the land, better con- 
ditions for farming due to the effect on conservation of 
water, cheaper lumber and so on. Not the least of the 
possibilities of forestry consists in the fact that a scien- 
tific forestry policy carried on by a state over a series 
of years could be made to yield a substantial income 
for the support of some permanent interest of the state, 
such as the public schools. Variations of the effort to 
grow trees for wood products, are the growing of 
nut-bearing trees, sugar- and oil-bearing trees, and of 
ornamental trees and shrubs. 

City Forestry. The water supply of a city is a vital 
concern. As a region becomes exceedingly populous, 
the difficulty in keeping a supply both adequate and pure 
increases. There is no doubt that for larger cities at 
least the question of adequate forestration of the areas 



8o THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

which supply the reservoirs will become a regular part 
of municipal policy. The matter of parks and play- 
grounds is of course of little direct interest to the 
farmer but of most intense importance to the city; and 
these, in connection with forests as a part of the park 
system of a city, have to do intimately with soil and the 
soil treatment. It is not impossible to conceive of cities 
ultimately gaining some substantial revenue from their 
forests. This is already done in some places in 
Europe. The use of trees and shrubs for decorative 
purposes in streets and parks and in fact the whole ques- 
tion of what is called city forestry, including planting, 
care, protection from the ravages of insects, and 
disease, constitutes a large factor in city planning. 

The Landscape. When we say landscape, we are 
likely to think of parks or estates of the wealthy, but 
the farmer has a landscape with him every day. Per- 
haps he too seldom uses his opportunities to make his 
surroundings beautiful at small expense. The beauti- 
fication of country highways, the establishment of vil- 
lage parks and playgrounds, the landscape adornment 
of public buildings, schools, churches and Grange halls 
is too much neglected. But there is the landscape as 
nature has it. The farmer has access to beautiful 
views. Does he not sometimes need education in land- 
scape appreciation? 

Soil Specialties. There are other uses of soils than 
the growing of food, feeds and fibers. Floriculture is 
a large industry. The systematic production of the 
medicinal plants is increasing. Specialties, such as 
mushrooms, rhubarb, etc., sometimes make quite profit- 
able returns. Seed farms and nurseries are common. 
These specialties will increase in number and in the 
aggregate they will eventually comprise quite a sub- 



FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 81 

stantial business. More than that, they represent a 
very intelligent use of the soil and a highly skilled 
utilization of plants. 

The Soil and Social Amelioration. It has recently 
been stated in France that the victims of shell shock re- 
cover much more rapidly if they can be put to work in 
the fields. Better than medicine, better than nursing, 
better than the hospital is the soil in the open country. 
Now this statement is only a new illustration of the 
fact that both physicians and social experts discovered 
some time ago and to an increasing extent are putting 
into operation. It is common knowledge that schools 
for delinquents, the old-fashioned " reform " schools, 
have usually been placed in the country. The most en- 
lightened prison policies now provide for farms in con- 
nection with the prisons and the habitual use of prison- 
ers in producing their own food. Not long ago, one 
of the most prominent experts connected with the treat- 
ment of the feeble-minded asserted that in the future 
these institutions must consist of colonies so located that 
the inmates could not only have open air but farm work. 
It has been found that even the insane can be used to a 
very large extent in many farm operations. The out- 
of-door work tends to health; steady employment makes 
for mental poise and sanity. In all these institutions 
there is some considerable saving of expense to the 
state. If properly managed, these farms could be 
also demonstrations in good farming. It should be 
more generally understood that the increase in delin- 
quents of various sorts, physical and mental and moral, 
is becoming a serious menace to our civilization, both in 
country and in city. If, therefore, the use of the soil 
as a means of amelioration and possibly of curing is 
practicable, it has very far-reaching consequences. 



82 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

We shall also need to provide easy facilities by which 
those who are partially disabled, either physically or 
nervously, can be placed upon the land. It will not 
do to arrange for these people under the expectation 
that invalids can do farm work. But men who need 
to be out of doors, and can do fairly active work or 
men only partly disabled can farm small pieces of land 
in many cases to advantage. This is destined to be a 
part of a national policy for taking care of the con- 
siderable current of men and women who would seek 
the country if they knew the way. 

Game Farming. Just as there are soil specialties, 
so there are animal specialties, growing of pets, of fur- 
bearing animals, of game. In general, the state itself 
or large land holding concerns can carry on these types 
of farming to best advantage. In some portions of the 
country, naturally wooded, and in connection with the 
forestry policy, game farming can be made a consider- 
able factor both in the production of meat and in the 
increase in value of animal products. A variation of 
game farming is fish farming, that is, the use of fresh 
lakes, ponds and streams for the production of fish. 
We are just beginning the development of this field. 

The Soil as a Machine. The average American 
thinks of the soil merely as a storehouse of plant food. 
But in all older settled regions farmers discover that it 
is desirable to make a highly intensive use of the soil, not 
so much a reservoir of fertility as a container of fer- 
tility. Commercial fertilizers are added to the soil 
and furnish the major part of the plant food. Glass 
farming is dependent upon this use of the soil; as are 
also crops that are grown out of their normal season. 
When an effort is made to get unusual yields of special 
quality, the same principle is brought into operation. 



FARMING THAT IS NOT FARMING 83 

It is a principle that has the utmost significance in all 
countries where population presses upon available farm- 
ing areas. This is not " farming " in the ordinary 
sense of the word; but again it is a highly intelligent 
and skilled use of the soil for growing things that man 
wants. We have here a powerful social appeal to 
people to tie themselves up with a bit of the land for the 
sake of health and sanity and good influences. 

All this field of farming that is not farming is there- 
fore sure to broaden. It ought to have the sympa- 
thetic understanding of the farmers. It is really big 
with importance for humanity. These things also 
mean a gradual change of attitude on the part of con- 
sumers. When they have their own gardens, they will 
come to know that cabbages come from the land instead 
of from the grocery. They will know something of 
the toil and sweat and disappointments of the pro- 
ducer and of the real costs of production. They will 
themselves develop more discriminating tastes and will 
increasingly call for higher quality; and of course the 
demand for quality in the long run spurs the farmer to 
his best effort and best profit. On the whole, it will 
make for a freer consumption, especially of fruits, 
vegetables and poultry products, which can usually be 
grown in areas near the market, and a reduction of 
costs and wastes of transportation, storage and dis- 
tribution. 

This twilight zone also has a tremendous significance 
in an educational way. It is working itself gradually 
into the system of public education, and calls for trained 
administrators. It promises to send students in largely 
increasing numbers to the agricultural schools and col- 
leges. It even means something in the Avay of quan- 
tity production and ought thereby to assist in solving 
the problem of food supply. 



CHAPTER VI 

WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 

The title of this chapter seems to convey the idea that 
a rural policy does not exist in America to-day. Such 
a statement may be denied, especially among govern- 
ment officials and scientists who for years have been 
very hard at work on definite plans for the improve- 
ment of agriculture. As in most discussions, conclu- 
sions depend upon definitions. In one meaning of the 
word, we have and always have had an agricultural 
policy; in another, and we believe in a truer and much 
more important sense, we do not have such a policy. 

We may think of a policy as the sum of things ac- 
tually done and under way. These activities and plans 
show themselves in legislative enactments, in the work 
of public agencies and in the associated efforts of farm- 
ers. The reasons for them may be found in speeches 
made in Congress, in addresses at agricultural conven- 
tions of various sorts, in reports of committees and 
commissions of many kinds, in platforms of political 
parties, in the farm press, in the formal pronounce- 
ments of great farmers' organizations. A democratic 
people think and plan in obedience to certain ideas that 
are traditionally accepted or that arise out of new condi- 
tions. For there is always a philosophy, even if un- 
expressed or incomplete, back of human activities. In 
this sense we have of course a rural policy. It is com- 
posed of many items. It is not in print. If you ask 
for it, no one can give it to you; but it exists. 

84 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 85 

But a true policy must have a certain completeness 
about it. It can be rather definitely expressed and un- 
derstood. It must be widely and generally accepted; 
it directs efforts and governs activities. Government, 
farmers' associations and individuals will join in a 
common effort for one large end, intelligently, earn- 
estly, cooperatively. This sort of rural policy we do 
not have in America to-day. This chapter is written 
as a plea that we take steps as soon as possible to se- 
cure it. Indeed, this whole book grows out of the 
earnest conviction that perhaps the outstanding defect 
of our American agriculture is the lack of a rural 
policy. We must have such a policy if the American 
farmer is to adjust himself to the demands of the New 
Day. 

Our policy in the past has consisted of three main 
endeavors: 

1. To increase agricultural production, chiefly by 
opening for agricultural use as much land as 
possible and settling it as rapidly as possible; 
but also by education, exhortation, expert ad- 
vice and government subsidies in special in- 
stances; 

2. To encourage one-family farms owned by those 
who till them; 

3. To increase as much as possible our exports of 
agricultural products, both raw and manufac- 
tured. 

These purposes may not have been always expressed 
clearly, or definitely held by the leaders, but the trend 
of our legislation for nearly a century was in these di- 
rections. There are those who believe that this policy 



86 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

was overdone. Probably in the main it was the one 
best adapted to the times. The American farmer con- 
quered a continent for civilization under this policy. 

The farmers' interests for the first two-thirds of the 
nineteenth century were largely educational and social. 
It was an era of the development of agricultural fairs 
and farmers' clubs. There was not much discussion 
of economic difficulties. But the period of the Civil 
War saw the beginning of discussions about bad busi- 
ness conditions under which the farmers had to work, 
and the last third of the century saw the rise of the great 
farmers' organizations. These various voluntary as- 
sociations of farmers have grown to perfectly enormous 
proportions. They may be grouped as follows: 

Associations to improve production — live stock, 
dairy, horticultural societies. 

Associations to improve marketing and exchange — 
credit unions, supply associations, cooperative selling 
societies, mutual companies. 

Associations to improve country life — the church, 
women's clubs, improvement societies. 

Associations of a general or inclusive character — 
the Grange, the Farmers' Union, etc. 

We also have an elaborate system of agencies sup- 
ported at public expense — administrative, such as na- 
tional and state department of agriculture, boards of 
education and of health; educational, such as special 
agricultural schools, country farm bureaus, agricultural 
colleges and experiment stations. 

There have arisen many urban agencies, such as 
manufacturing concerns, banks and boards of trade, 
which have a genuine concern and active interest in 
rural affairs. 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 87 



POLICIES BUT NO POLICY 

What, therefore, we have really done is to build 
much machinery designed to aid agriculture, most of 
it tremendously effective; but we have set it up without 
much regard to unifying the enterprise of rural im- 
provement, or even to securing cooperation in the ma- 
chinery itself. We have, for example, the parts of a 
perfectly enormous plan for agricultural education; 
there is nothing comparable to it elsewhere in the world. 
The statement frequently appears in print and is made 
in fervid public addresses that the government has done 
something for every interest but agriculture. It is not 
true. Probably there is no country in the world which 
has developed such a wide variety of voluntary col- 
lective or associated efforts on behalf of agriculture and 
country life as has our own. Their names are legion. 
But in large measure each agency " does that which is 
right in its own eyes." There is no agreement as to 
what the rural problem really is or how to solve it. 
There is no statement to be found anywhere clearly in- 
dicating the real task of any one agency nor its relation 
to the service of other agencies. There is no clean-cut 
cooperation of available forces for definite purposes or 
ends. Even in so well developed a part of our ma- 
chinery as the established activities of agricultural edu- 
cation, we may safely assert that we have no well 
rounded policy. 

Perhaps the most serious feature of the situation is 
the fact that so often we mistake the mill for the grist. 
Most of the questions that arise in the extension service 
of nation and state concern themselves with machinery 
of operation rather than with true objectives. If you 
ask the average agricultural college official for his 



88 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

policy in a specific field of rural endeavor, he will almost 
always give you a program or project — and at that 
a program of methods to be used rather than a list of 
goals to be achieved. If one were to keep an accurate 
time slip of subject matter of discussion in the typical 
state Grange meeting, he would probably find that not 
less than three-fourths of the time had been spent in 
dealing with the machinery of the organization against 
one-fourth in considering the problems which the or- 
ganization is intended to help the farmer solve. These 
tendencies are in a measure simply the danger common 
to all associated effort, what the sociologist calls " in- 
stitutionalism." School and church and government 
and all collective agencies are tempted to magnify the 
institution itself, rather than its real purpose. One of 
the most powerful arguments for the development of a 
definite policy is that it will tend to substitute aims or 
purposes for methods, to emphasize ends rather than 
means, the grist rather than the mill. We might well 
endorse Lloyd George when he said, " I deal not with 
plans, not with details, and above all not with pro- 
grams. I deal with objectives." We must define our 
agricultural objective. 

In the best, truest and most important sense we do 
not now have an American rural policy; we should have 
one and we should have it soon. 

A FEW QUERIES 

It is quite possible that some influential leaders of 
our various agricultural enterprises still remain uncon- 
vinced of the need of a policy for rural affairs, or as- 
sert that we have such a policy. A few questions may 
perhaps serve to bring out more clearly the fact that 
we are trying to establish. 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 89 

Is it not merely good sense to have before us a clear 
statement of just what is involved in making American 
agriculture all it ought to be? Yet we have never had 
such a statement carefully formulated and placed be- 
fore our people, by any group of men and women fully 
representing all the various aspects of the rural ques- 
tion. The nearest approach was the report of the 
Roosevelt Country Life Commission, made nearly a 
decade ago, — which Congress refused to publish for 
distribution ! 

Has not the war made clear to all thoughtful people, 
what ought to be self-evident, that the practical prob- 
lems of agriculture not only cannot be divorced from 
the general question of food supply, but that the latter 
is the real point of departure in determining what agri- 
culture ought to do and can do? But this adjustment 
of production to consumption of food has never been 
attempted either by the agencies of government or by 
the farmers' organizations. The former have for 
years been " speeding up " production, with tardy at- 
tention to distribution, while the latter have been 
chiefly concerned with the fact that the farmer is disad- 
vantaged in his buying and selling. Even the war has 
not yet unified the attack on the food problem as a 
whole; emergency enactments by Congress seem to give 
duplicate powers to both the Food Administration and 
the Department of Agriculture, and in actual adminis- 
tration there has never been a definite coordination of 
either purposes or activities. 

May we not learn from older countries? There 
are those of course who persistently hold that we can- 
not learn anything worth while from the development 
of European agriculture. To-day, doubtless the mere 
suggestion that Germany, for illustration, could teach 



9 o THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

us much would be received with great disapproval in 
some quarters. No one who has come into even super- 
ficial contact with the organized activities of agricul- 
ture in almost any enlightened European country can 
but feel keenly the loss to American agriculture through 
our failure to profit by European experience. Indi- 
viduals have written about conditions, the government 
has published a few documents on the subject, and five 
years ago the American Commission made its tour of 
Europe for the purpose of studying chiefly agricultural 
credit, and our present farm land bank system is due 
in great measure to the Commission. We have had a 
few reports from our consuls concerning agriculture. 
Experts have scoured the world in a search for new 
varieties of plants. But we have quite neglected to 
provide official expert means for learning, for example, 
about business cooperation in agriculture, which is 
one of our most serious problems and in which the 
Europeans are clearly our masters. There is every 
argument for maintaining a group of qualified repre- 
sentatives of the Department of Agriculture constantly 
in service in foreign lands, studying all phases of the 
rural problem, and bringing back to us such lessons as 
are applicable here. 

Why should not we, in common with other nations, 
consider agriculture after the war? England has its 
Selborne report. Books are being written in France. 
The Italian War Cabinet has issued a statement on the 
subject. It is clear, is it not, that the agricultural 
policy of Europe will profoundly affect our own agri- 
culture? Available material from England seems to 
indicate a purpose " to make the Empire independent 
of other countries in respect to food supplies." Per- 
haps this aim is the proper one. But what of its effect 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 91 

upon the American farmer? We exported to England 
alone in 1913 food products to the value of more than 
$512,000,000. Does England expect to sell us goods 
after the war? If so, what shall we pay her in? 
What shall we do with those $512,000,000 worth of 
food we used to send her? 

Well-founded rumor states that definite and large 
plans have already been formulated by American manu- 
facturers, bankers, and merchants, for a vast enlarge- 
ment of our trade with South America. With what is 
South America to pay us for the goods we send her? 
Probably to a very considerable extent in wheat and 
meat. Now these are among the great sub-industries 
of our American agriculture. What effect will the new 
trade with our southern neighbors have then upon 
American agriculture? Our imports from South 
America increased from $200,000,000 in 1914 to 
$550,000,000 in 19 1 7. To what extent was this in- 
crease made up of food products that can be grown in 
this country? Is there any one studying these currents 
or tendencies, any one in touch with the South American 
statesmen who are making their policies? Has the 
war taught us nothing about economic preparedness? 
Is agriculture still to be the last thing considered in the 
business discussions of the world? Why should not 
official representatives of our government, presumably 
officials of the United States Department of Agricul- 
ture, be sent to South America as well as into our own 
business circles, to discover tendencies, to discuss prin- 
ciples and to help formulate programs with respect to 
the effect of all these new plans upon American agri- 
culture? 

The whole world is talking " reconstruction." La- 
bor has assumed that its interests are paramount in 



92 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the New Day. Why neglect the largest group of la- 
borers, the farmers? Why are we not studying the 
problems that the war will bring to our farming popu- 
lation? A recent book deals with American problems 
of reconstruction. Yet it not only has no chapter that 
considers agriculture aside from one on distribution, 
but the words " agriculture " or " farm " are not found 
in the index. Is the subject unimportant or is there no 
one capable of dealing with it? 

One of the great wastes in our food supply is the 
constant re-shipment of products. Thousands of small 
cities bring in food products from rather distant dis- 
tributing centers of precisely the same type as those 
grown in the surrounding country which in turn are sent 
to a distant market. Shall we never have an adequate 
study of this waste and how it may possibly be rem- 
edied? 

Is there any state in the Union that has inventoried 
its agricultural resources or developed a consistent agri- 
cultural program on which all agencies are at work for 
a common end? 

For nearly twenty years, the market milk problem 
in the great eastern cities has been one of increasing 
seriousness and difficulty. In New England, for ex- 
ample, dairy farmers, pestered with attempts at legis- 
lation and control, have been going out of business. 
Valuable studies have been made, but the difficulty has 
not as yet been " tackled " in the only way in which it 
can be solved — that is, as a whole. Only when the 
entire problem is viewed as a unit, and producers, dis- 
tributors and consumers, together with investigators, 
teachers and regulatory officials, come together in a 
definite consistent effort, each to do his part in work- 
ing out a sound dairy policy for New England 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 93 

— only then will the dairy farmers get permanent 
relief. 

LAND FOR RETURNING SOLDIERS 

The most recent and most serious illustration of our 
lack of a rural policy relates to providing lands for re- 
turning soldiers. Last summer the Secretary of the 
Interior addressed an earnest letter to the President, 
urging a plan of land development by which we should 
know the possibilities of reclaiming arid, wet and cut- 
over lands, and a scheme of enabling the returning sol- 
dier to take a parcel of land, pay for it over a long term 
and make it his home. The amount of the land that 
could thus be brought into cultivation, it is estimated, 
would be all the way from one hundred million acres 
to perhaps three or four times that amount. Provision 
was to be made by which these farmers would be as- 
sisted by technical experts in building up their farms. 

One cannot question the sincerity of the Secretary 
nor the desirability of insuring satisfactory employ- 
ment for returning soldiers. But the plan is open to 
many and serious objections. It is doubtful if any large 
number of returning soldiers, not already tied up with 
the soil, will want to go to the land permanently. We 
now have about five hundred million acres of im- 
proved land in this country. The addition of 60% or 
even of 20% to this area within a few years would be 
a most serious menace to the present farmers who al- 
ready suffer from competition. Of course if the food 
needs of the world require the use of this extra land, 
well and good. The project as announced by the Sec- 
retary is primarily an engineering program. Appar- 
ently no consideration had been given to what crops 
could be grown on this land, the need of those crops, 



94 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

how to market them, or to similar problems. There 
is no provision for furnishing farmers with capital 
which they need for their requirements. 

The main objection to this plan does not consist at all 
in details such as these, but in the fundamental diffi- 
culty that these plans, good or bad, have not been de- 
veloped as a part of an agricultural policy. Thus far, 
there is no evidence that the Department of Agricul- 
ture was consulted. Agricultural experts in the vari- 
ous agricultural colleges have not been consulted, and 
what is still more important, the great farmers' or- 
ganizations have not been asked their judgment as to 
the effect of this development upon the farmer. It is 
simply another illustration of the fact that we do not 
have a consistent agricultural policy nor at present the 
machinery for developing it. We still work in groups 
and not as a whole. 

WHO IS TO BLAME? 

This question will not be answered in this book ex- 
cept by saying, " Nobody in particular; all of us in 
general." These illustrations are not given to point 
the finger of adverse criticisms at any official, govern- 
mental agency or farmers' association, but merely to 
try to make more real the fact of our lack of an agri- 
cultural policy and the pressing need of our being about 
the business of securing one. We have all been short- 
sighted. Each man and each agency has been busy 
in his own field, so busy as to forget the farm as a 
whole. There has been a marvelous development of 
agricultural knowledge and enterprise during the last 
decade or so, and it has been difficult even for special- 
ists to " keep up " in their own field. Agriculture is a 
tremendously big, complex, scattered business. Ef- 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 95 

forts at cooperation often fail because of personal or 
institutional conservatism or jealousies, or natural limi- 
tations of either vision or power. Congress and the 
legislatures frequently quite ignore expert advice. 
Public funds, great as they have been, have been grossly 
inadequate for the full measure of the task. 

The war has forced the issue. American agricul- 
ture must be 100 per cent, efficient. It must be treated 
as a unit. We must plan for its best interests as a 
whole. We must have a rural policy. 

THE ELEMENTS OF A TRUE POLICY 

What do we mean by a real policy? What are its 
tests? How may we recognize it when we see it? 
What are the elements of a " policy " ? 

I. A Body of Principles. A policy, first of all, 
must consist of a body of principles which are funda- 
mental in determining the direction in which efforts are 
applied. Some of the things that we must definitely 
determine before we can have a real agricultural policy 
are such items as the following: 

1. Shall we attempt to grow practically all of our 
own food and other soil grown products, or shall we 
permit other countries to export to us such products 
even though we can grow them here? Shall we seek 
to grow a surplus from our soil to sell abroad? In 
both cases, the answer will come only in connection with 
a national policy concerning economic relationships 
with other nations. Can we grow these products as 
cheaply as can other countries and if we can, what 
effect will this low cost of production have upon our 
farmers? If we desire to sell our manufactured 
products in foreign markets, shall we take food prod- 
ucts in exchange? 



96 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

2. In the future, what shall be our definite purpose 
with respect to the control of the farm land? Are we 
willing that it should go into the hands of large land 
holders and small tenants, or do we desire to perpet- 
uate the family-size farm owned and worked by the 
man who lives upon it? 

3. Shall we deliberately plan for the zoning of agri- 
cultural production so that each community, county, 
district, state or region shall grow those products and 
those alone which it can produce to best advantage in 
competition with other parts of the country and of the 
world ? 

4. Shall our plans of distributing food products be 
left to the skill of the individual farmer, dealing with 
the present transporters and handlers of soil-grown 
products, or shall we encourage on a large scale col- 
lective bargaining by farmers, both in buying and sell- 
ing? Shall we supplement the latter plan with gov- 
ernment regulation or management or ownership of the 
machinery of food distribution? 

5. Shall we develop a comprehensive system of pro- 
tection and insurance, either through government or 
through cooperative means, with respect to protec- 
tion not only against insect pests and diseases, 
but also against fire, flood, drouth, hail, tornado, 
etc.? 

6. Shall our agricultural educational system attempt 
to reach effectively every worker on the land ! Shall 
it include the economic and social problems of Ameri- 
can farm life? Or shall it be wholly technical? 

These and similar queries are matters of fundamen- 
tal aim and purpose. They lie at the root of a real 
policy. 

II. A Program. There must be a definite scheme 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 97 

of operations, of goals to be sought. This program 
should be based upon: 

1. Adequate Knowledge. We need to know the 
facts. We must have command of resources, under- 
stand needs and realize advantages, disadvantages, op- 
portunities, possibilities. This knowledge by no means 
includes solely physical facts regarding soil, climate and 
the like, but must embrace all economic and social con- 
siderations that bear upon the success or failure of 
agriculture and country life. 

2. Definite Purposes. The real aims that are 
sought in an improved agriculture should be fairly 
clear. What is the problem we are set to solve? 
Where do we hope to arrive as a result of our efforts? 

3. Effective Methods. A policy must be reason- 
ably clear as to what are believed, by those most com- 
petent to judge, to be the very best methods of pro- 
cedure by which the desired ends may be gained or at 
least approximated. 

III. Machinery. There must be appropriate agen- 
cies to carry out the program. 

1. Institutions. We assume the fundamental need 
of group effort. We must rely upon the individual 
farmer to do his part of the work that needs doing, 
but we are sure that the great mass of the seven mil- 
lions of farmers in America can be brought into a com- 
mon purpose only through adequate institutions or 
agencies of cooperative effort. 

2. Division of Labor. These agencies must divide 
the field of labor. Each must find its particular task, 
seek its function. There should be neither overlapping 
of effort nor overlooking of tasks to be performed. 
The government should not try to do what the Grange 
can better do, nor the Grange to do what the church 



98 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

can better do, nor the church to do what the farm 
bureau can better do — each agency to its job. 

3. Institutional Efficiency. Each agency should 
make itself as effective as possible in its own field. It 
should have a part in the making of the policy and 
should support it loyally. But it should make for itself 
a definite policy and a clear-cut program of operations. 

4. Cooperation. There should be the heartiest pos- 
sible cooperation among the various agencies, each mak- 
ing, in common with the others, a definite effort to help 
carry out the program. 

IV. General Needs. In general there are needed 
also 

1. A Program Maker. This must necessarily be a 
body representing fully the various agencies and in- 
terests. No one agency, not even that of government, 
can impose a policy on the others. 

2. Adjustments. We must recognize the many re- 
lationships of any part of the rural problem and the 
constant adjustment and readjustment that are thus 
made necessary. 

3. Utilization of Laws of Progress. We should 
utilize the two great laws of social progress: (A) the 
law of resident forces under which we learn to depend, 
" in the long run," upon local and individual groups 
and agencies for the real work; and (B) the law of 
external stimulus by which we keep prodding, as it 
were, the local effort by information, interchange of 
experience and even urgings and financial aid from 
sources outside the local groups. 

4. Discussion. It is necessary to develop means for 
constant discussion of the issues involved, of ends and 
of means, of methods and the checking of results. 

5. Leadership. The discovery, training and utili- 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 99 

zation of personal leadership, lay and professional, 
volunteer and paid, is vital. 

6. The Rest of the People. We must also recognize 
that the people of the nation as a whole and the welfare 
of the entire country must be taken into consideration 
in an agricultural policy that is best for the farmer and 
all the farmers, but we want also a policy that, in the 
long run, will be best for the country, and we should 
have, if possible, the support of the entire country on 
behalf of the widest rural policy. 

Perhaps this outline will make clearer than anything 
so far said, how deficient we are in the making of a 
policy in our rural affairs, as well as the ideal which 
the greatest efficiency demands that we keep in mind. 

SOME OBSERVATIONS 

It may be worth while to mention a few topics that 
are sure to be discussed when the formulation of a 
rural policy is seriously undertaken. 

What Are the Main Advantages in Naming a Pol- 
icy? A well developed agricultural policy ought to 
give greater certainty of aim or purpose. Much of 
our educational and organizing work is scattered in its 
aim instead of being bent unrelentingly toward a definite 
course. A clear policy ought to assist in avoiding 
duplication of effort. Now we have a multiplicity of 
agencies, many of them seeking almost the same ends 
and frequently overlapping their forces. It is also 
noticeable that in this hodge-podge of effort, due not 
only to duplication but sometimes to friction and mis- 
understanding, many important fields of service are 
neglected. As one of our country life leaders has said, 
we must have neither " overlapping nor overlooking." 
The policy ought therefore to conserve mightily the 



ioo THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

time, the energy and the money of those agencies and 
individuals that are at work on behalf of agriculture 
and country life. The adoption of a policy once more 
ought to insure a comprehensive program. One needs 
but to glance at even a superficial outline of the farm- 
er's problem to realize how little even our agricultural 
leaders have worked in terms of thorough-going, well- 
balanced development. 

Will Men See the Need? Until very recently in- 
deed, there has been almost no discussion in America 
about an agricultural policy. Indeed responsible of- 
ficials have asserted very recently that we already have 
a policy, and evidently believe that there is no need for 
further discussion of the matter. But the war has 
raised the issue in a way that will not down. The 
experience of America's participation in the war to date 
has brought home to the farmers and indeed to many 
of the public agricultural agencies the loss of effective- 
ness that has come because there has been no authori- 
tative program, no generous use of available forces, no 
spokesmen upon which the government could rely for 
an expert and representative opinion concerning the 
best things to do in agriculture. The evidence that 
men are beginning to realize the need is found in the 
fact that a number of different groups are now at work 
quite independently of each other, endeavoring to 
formulate an agricultural policy. 

Unity Impossible. It may be argued that jealousies 
both personal and institutional will prevent even the 
formulating of a policy; somebody or some group will 
want the credit for it all. It is pitiably true that the 
itch for glory often overmasters the passion for service. 
It is a severe test of human nature when individuals 
or organizations jump into the arena, carry off the 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 101 

prize and claim the credit although, as a matter of fact, 
most of the solid, substantial thinking and work has 
been done by others. But just as some part of our 
education to do things comes by doing them, so the 
spirit of cooperation is often engendered simply by co- 
operating. The war has taught us many lessons in 
cooperation, not the least of which is that the larger 
interest of the country and indeed the larger interest 
of mankind is paramount. 

There is no Policy Maker. This is true. No one 
seems to have any authority to make an agricultural 
policy. No branch of government, no farmers' or- 
ganization, no combination of the two, thus far is uni- 
versally recognized as representative of the most ex- 
pert knowledge combined with the most representative 
public opinion. This is precisely one of the problems 
in an agricultural policy itself. It is, indeed, a part 
of an agricultural policy to have a group that can make 
a policy and see it through. 

A Policy Impossible. It is often remarked that any- 
body can make a paper plan, and unfortunately we 
have been far too content with paper plans. Resolu- 
tions numerous as the sands of the sea have been passed 
for fifty years, relative to farmers' rights and interests. 
Some of them have been as seed sown in good ground 
but most of them never come to fruit bearing. One 
must admit also that in a business so big as agriculture, 
so widespread, involving so many people, subject to so 
many fluctuations, it is out of the question to make and 
enforce the kind of policy, for example that a big manu- 
facturing firm can make and enforce, and we know that 
even such concerns are obliged to change their policies 
from time to time. Nevertheless, while we cannot 
change the course of the Mississippi River, we are able 



102 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

to direct the flow of its waters for good rather than for 
evil. The mere effort to work together for common 
ends of itself gathers people together for cooperating 
effort. The history of every well directed farmers' 
organization or public agency proves the value of a 
policy. The next step is simply to gain the larger co- 
operation in place of the partial. 

A Policy Undesirable. There will be those who 
will go so far as to say that a real policy is undesirable, 
and they will point to autocratic Germany. They 
claim that a nation cannot have a real policy and ac- 
tually carry it out unless it exercises autocratic power, 
a thing not only impossible in America, but even if it 
were feasible, would be mischievous because it would 
make automatons of farmers. Here again we must 
reach the middle ground of common sense and prac- 
ticability. When we leave the shores of the present 
chaos of unregarded effort, in agriculture, we do not 
necessarily seek the haven of enforced militaristic regu- 
lation of individual endeavor. We rather seek to en- 
list the intelligence, the self-interest and the patriotism 
of the farmers, and the agencies which they have cre- 
ated, in behalf of a well-planned, economic, cooperat- 
ing, stimulating campaign for improved conditions. 

A Policy Essential. We see no escape from the 
conclusion that the time is upon us when we must make 
some sort of policy for agriculture. The need of it 
was apparent in many minds even before the war, but 
the New Day makes an imperative demand that so- 
ciety shall plan for its future good and plan carefully 
and intelligently and immediately. It would be tragic 
were our American farmers and rural agencies to fail 
to learn the most obvious lessons of the war. 

Whom to Consider. It is exceedingly important in 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 103 

making a policy to remember the special interests that 
are to be taken into account. There is a remarkable 
tendency on the part of people to plan only with refer- 
ence to themselves or the special interests with which 
they are concerned. In making the rural policy, we 
have to regard at least three elements. 

First of all, there is the individual farmer; his in- 
terests, his tastes, his needs, his capacities, his preju- 
dices are part of the material with which we deal. A 
whole chapter in this book will be devoted to an attempt 
to show that the individual farmer, however, can most 
effectively be reached if he is approached as a member 
of a small group — the local rural community. 

Then we have the associations of farmers. Their 
names are legion. These more nearly represent the 
farmers than do any governmental agencies, because 
they are made up of farmers, who speak the farmer's 
language and enforce the farmer's opinion. It is true 
that the measures they advocate may not always be wise 
or scientifically sound, but these associations constitute 
the big factor in agriculture. If there should arise in 
America any tendency on the part of publicly supported 
agencies to ignore the power of volunteer association in 
agriculture (or to overlook) its ultimate worth in keep- 
ing the farmers a body of sturdy, independent men and 
women, it would spell the decline of democracy. 

In the third place, we must remember that the gov- 
ernment is constantly enlarging its functions and widen- 
ing the range of its services. Governmental machin- 
ery, therefore, becomes a constantly increasing power; 
so if the farmers' associations ignore the departments 
of agriculture, national and state, the colleges and ex- 
periment stations, the farm bureaus and the schools, 
they cut off their right hands. Democracy needs ex- 



104 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

perts; to cast aside the skill, the knowledge, the fore- 
sight, the judgment of these specialists, fallible and im- 
perfect as they are, would undermine immediately 
any attempt to operate a permanent agricultural pol- 
icy. No one of these interests can make or execute a 
policy by itself. Neither the individual farmer nor the 
voluntary associations of farmers, nor the government 
itself is sufficient for the task. All must be taken into 
account and must be brought together. 

An Agricultural Program and the Food Supply. So 
far as we know, the first effort in America to outline 
in conference a program for agricultural activities that 
took as its starting point the food needs of the time, 
was made in St. Louis in April, 19 17, under the leader- 
ship of Secretary Houston of the Department of Agri- 
culture. (The major part of the St. Louis statement 
appears in the back of this book. See Appendix III.) 
This statement is not an ideal outline of a rural pro- 
gram. It was not the result of a conference of all the 
agricultural agencies, but only of a part of them. It 
was made hastily. It was frankly a war measure. It 
did not compass the entire agricultural problem. But 
it was nevertheless extremely significant, so significant 
that it will probably go down into history as the turn- 
ing point in American agriculture. Before it was 
adopted, we had no comprehensive, consistent agricul- 
tural program worked out by a responsible group of 
men and fitted into the food needs of the people. The 
St. Louis statement was in itself a food supply pro- 
gram; it was made in conference; it called for central 
national committees of both farmers and experts; it 
advocated complete machinery, national, state and lo- 
cal, for carrying out the program. It is interesting to 
note that the machinery urged was in the form of agri- 



WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 105 

cultural councils — national, state and community, a 
thing new to our American agriculture. 

Breadth and Bigness. Last of all, let us observe 
that a rural policy must be just as big and as broad and 
as far reaching as is the American rural problem. 

THE GREAT AMERICAN FARM 

Let us come back to our starting point. We must 
think of all the farms of American farmers as really 
one big farm, and we must endeavor to do just what 
the good farmer would do in answer to the question, 
" How can that farm be made more efficient and how 
can the people who do the farming be made more 
prosperous and happy? " Once we get firmly in our 
minds this very simple prescription for the improve- 
ment of American agriculture and country life, we will 
plan for the development of American farming and the 
welfare of the American farmer and his family, just as 
if we were dealing with one big farm and one big 
family. 

MAKING THE POLICY WORK 

There are two great forces on which we must rely 
for the development of an agricultural policy and the 
working out of a rural program. They are education 
and organization. 

Education, used in the broadest sense, must include 
technical knowledge, ample information as to condi- 
tions, grasp of principles and enlightenment as to ends 
and means, as well as appreciation of broad relation- 
ships and of obligations as well as rights. 

Organization is the cooperation of all the factors, 
all the institutions, all the individuals and groups that 
can assist in the forward movement of agriculture and 
country life. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE EDUCATION OF THE RURAL PEOPLE 

Education is the life-blood of democracy; ignorance 
the ally of autocracy and of all predatory forces. If 
the people are to be trusted, they must be trustworthy. 
The recent declaration of the British Labor Party 
states that " the most important of all the measures of 
social reconstruction must be a genuine nationalization 
of education which shall get rid of all class distinctions 
and privileges and bring effectively within the reach not 
only of every boy and girl, but also of every adult 
citizen, all the training, physical, mental and moral, 
literary, technical and artistic, of which he is capable." 

The instincts of the American farmer in this respect 
are sound to the core. A prominent leader of a great 
farmers' organization was recently asked what were 
the big problems of American farming. He put first 
the securing of an adequate system of education. Re- 
peatedly have the formal utterances of important farm 
groups and their leaders given the same rank to educa- 
tion; they recognize the hopelessness of agricultural 
improvement apart from a widespread, effective educa- 
tional scheme. The Grange for fifty years has main- 
tained a lecturer's hour as a regular part of the pro- 
ceedings at every subordinate Grange meeting. It has 
always upheld the public schools and the agricultural 
colleges. It has reports of committees on education at 

106 



EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE 107 

every state and national meeting. It has assisted in 
developing parents' and teachers' associations. Per- 
haps the characteristic feature of the Grange as com- 
pared with other farm organizations is its insistence 
upon education. This attitude of the Grange is but an 
expression of the mind of the better farmers. When 
the farmers began to settle the West, they carried the 
school with them; it was a part of their community lug- 
gage, indispensable at a time when luggage was a bur- 
den. The farmers 1 own efforts to improve agriculture 
are based on an abundant faith in education as a pre- 
requisite to all else — upon the belief that if the farmer 
is educated all other things will follow; but that if he 
is ignorant, there is little chance for real gains. The 
farmer knows that the mind is somewhat like one of 
his fields — cultivation is half the crop. 

DEFECTS IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

Nevertheless, one of the most serious difficulties in 
adjusting the farmer to the New Day is the fact that 
rural schools are not keeping step with the needs of the 
time. Unfortunately, in spite of their belief in educa- 
tion, the farmers themselves block the progress of edu- 
cation all too often, through an unwillingness to make 
changes in antiquated equipment and systems, or 
through sheer parsimony in financial support. There 
is often lack of local enthusiasm and ideals. Farmers 
in many regions are all too content with what they have. 
Sometimes they are simply stubborn, desirous of doing 
as they please and resenting outside advice or sugges- 
tions. As one of our agricultural leaders has said, 
democracy and education oftentimes have been inter- 
preted as being the right for any community to have as 
poor schools as they choose to have. There are farm- 



108 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

ers who do not realize that the school of yesterday 
will not answer as the school of to-morrow. 

Not all of the difficulties in developing the rural 
schools are to be laid at the door of the farmer. State 
aid is often inadequate. Supervision is not seldom 
poor. School officials are often obliged to pay too 
much attention to politics; sometimes they endeavor to 
transplant bodily the city school system to the country. 
There is no national program of rural education based 
upon the fundamental relationships between education 
and rural democracy. We can progress rapidly only 
when we have a program that is vital and practicable, 
one that appeals to the farmers and has their support. 
We need the vision to organize a great national move- 
ment in behalf of the rural schools of America. 

SOME ITEMS OF RURAL SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 

The rural schools should be as good as the city 
schools. They may not teach the same subjects or in 
the same way, but the country boy and girl in all justice 
should have opportunities equal to any offered any- 
where. Some farmers do not realize how backward 
many rural schools are. And perhaps some educators 
do not realize what good results actually come from 
the better class of country schools. But we can hardly 
say with truth that the education given in rural schools 
to-day is as good as that given in the cities. 

We must insure better teaching — far, far better 
teaching. There is an astonishing amount of good 
teaching in the country schools, but it is really a marvel 
that it is as good as it is. The majority of rural teach- 
ers are not properly trained. They get very small pay, 
they stay in the school a very short time. Reforms at 
these points are fundamental — higher salaries for bet- 



EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE 109 

ter trained teachers, longer periods of employment and 
the securing of teachers who will become community 
leaders. 

The effort to establish the consolidated or central- 
ized school has been going on quite strongly for fifteen 
or twenty years. The plan itself is making rather slow 
headway. But wherever it has been tried, it has 
proved a success. It is amazing that in many parts 
of our country the farmers have been so slow to meet 
the educators half way on this subject. Of course, 
there are difficulties, bad roads are among them; be- 
cause there must be transportation of pupils if there is 
to be a consolidated school. The consolidated school 
is more costly in money than the old district school 
system, but it is far more efficient as an educational mill. 
It permits better supervision and gives a chance for the 
employment of better trained teachers at a better wage. 
It allows them to specialize in certain subjects or with 
certain grades of students. It secures a better course 
of study and it more easily provides " teacherages " 
or dwellings for the teachers, and consequently makes 
the school faculty a part of the community leadership. 
It makes possible a high school in many communities 
that otherwise would be deprived of it. Agriculture 
has been prescribed in some states as a required subject 
in the grades of the rural schools. It is a useless law 
and an unfortunate requirement unless it can be taught 
by teachers trained in agriculture. The reason for 
introducing agriculture and country life subjects into 
the average country school is not primarily to educate 
for agriculture, but to educate by means of agriculture. 
There comes a time, it is true, when a boy must make 
his choice and if he is to be a farmer, he ought to be 
definitely and thoroughly educated for agriculture. 



no THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

But it would be absolutely mischievous to plan the rural 
school system on such a basis as to direct all the boys 
and girls back to the farm and to make it difficult or 
impossible for them to compete with the city boy or 
girl in other professions and occupations of life. One 
reason for introducing agriculture into the grades of 
the country schools is the educational value of using 
the surroundings of the pupil as a means of education. 
Natural scenery, the business of the community, prob- 
lems of the adults, are the real materials of education. 
The pupil is to be encouraged to ask questions about 
these things, to get the meaning of them, to see if he 
himself has any relation to such questions. It is fre- 
quently asserted that the course of study and the text 
books used in the country schools are of such a charac- 
ter that the pupils are becoming interested in the prob- 
lems of the city rather than the problems of the coun- 
try; many teachers in the country schools are them- 
selves looking toward the city. This is a sound crit- 
icism, but the remedy may be carried too far. An 
assumption that the schooling of the country boy and 
girl should merely train for life in the country is disas- 
trous. If one were required to choose between a coun- 
try school that gave a first class general education, but 
with no agriculture, and a technical or vocational course 
without the facilities of a general education, there 
would be no hesitation in the decision. Far more im- 
portant than a specialized training for agriculture, is a 
real, thorough, vital education. Fortunately we need 
not be obliged to make such a choice, because a really 
good system of rural education will include an ample 
amount of training for the business of agriculture, and 
a good training for farming will not neglect to teach the 
pupils that man does not live by breqd alone. 



EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE in 

It is sometimes said that the high school is the " peo- 
ple's college " and there is a rapidly growing tendency 
in our city high schools to offer what is to-day regarded 
as normally the first two years of college work. In 
some of our smaller cities and larger villages, a very 
large proportion of the boys and particularly of the 
girls go on through the high school. It is here, in the 
high school advantages, that the discrepancy between 
our city school opportunities and our country school 
opportunities shows at its worst. The democratic 
movement everywhere to-day looks toward keeping the 
boy and the girl in school to the age of 16 rather than 
of 14, and there are those who advocate compulsory 
part time schooling at least up to the age of 18. The 
people themselves are beginning to be convinced that it 
is worth while for each boy and girl to get all the 
formal organized teaching that is possible as prepara- 
tion for occupation. But that is not all of it. There 
is a growing belief among the masses of the people that 
one of the great advantages of keeping the boys and 
girls in school for a longer period is that they may be 
better fitted for the responsibilities of democracy. Of 
course, this calls for vast changes in our high school 
work. It means that not merely vocational training is 
to be given boys and girls of the ages of 14 to 18, but 
also preparation to help meet the common problems of 
citizenship. Now if the farmers cannot have the ad- 
vantages that are rapidly coming to the sons and daugh- 
ters of the so-called working people in the city, agri- 
culture is destined to drop behind slowly but surely. 
It is an encouraging fact that in many of the larger agri- 
cultural sections of our country an unusual proportion 
of the farm boys and girls go on to high school and 
even to college. But over against that is the sad fact 



ii2 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

that among four-fifths of our farming people, the ma- 
jority of the boys and girls do not even finish the eighth 
grade. 

The New Day demands radical thinking and decisive 
action on the part of the farmers as well as on the part 
of educators, concerning the rural school system. 
Farmers doubtless will object to raising the school age 
to 1 6, because they feel that they need the work of the 
children on the farm. But there are devices that will 
help to modify the immediate economic disadvantages 
of lengthened schooling. Among these devices are the 
part-time school and continuation schools. The exten- 
sion of the present plan of winter short courses in agri- 
culture offered by our agricultural schools and colleges 
ought to meet the situation. If we could have a system 
by which in practically every community in America 
there were winter schools of four months for farm boys 
and girls of the age of 1 6 to i 8 (assuming the school 
age will be raised to 16; otherwise from 14 to 18) we 
would at once take a long step in advance. These 
schools should be agricultural in character but not con- 
fined to agriculture. The farmer and his wife in a 
rural democracy need all the agriculture and home mak- 
ing education that they can get, likewise need all the 
possible stimulation to closer thinking about the big 
problems of work and life. 

The so-called " practical " farmer, the narrowly vo- 
cational education advocate, and the conservative " lib- 
eral " educator are together responsible for one of the 
most serious failures of our rural school system — the 
neglect of education of our youth in the economic and 
social questions of the time. The New Day will bring 
these questions to the very front. Indeed, they are the 
main questions of the New Day. How shall the hu- 



EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE 113 

man race better learn to gain wealth, honestly and effi- 
ciently and distribute it fairly and at the same time live 
together in a more friendly way? Unless these themes 
are put into the schools, democracy does not get its 
proper education. Much the same thing may be said 
in regard to literature, also to art, especially music. 
How the war has emphasized the value of music as a 
stimulus to the soldier and how the great movement for 
community singing that has swept over the country has 
developed patriotism and common purpose ! 

It is clear that all these reforms and redirections of 
our rural school system will cost money, a great deal 
of money. But we must regard schooling as not a 
luxury, but a necessity. A good schooling may cost 
twice as much as a poor schooling, but is worth ten 
times as much. There is no better scheme of national 
bargaining than to spend money needed for a good 
school system. Let us also recognize the fact that 
these improvements in our rural school system cannot 
be made if the local farm communities are left to do it 
alone, or if they alone are obliged to pay the bills. The 
farmers must give up some of their cherished " rights " 
in respect to the management of the little local school, 
not because we want an educational autocracy, but be- 
cause in this day of scientific efficiency all school systems 
must yield to the management of wise, trained, broad- 
minded experts in education. We need a larger 
amount of state aid for local schools. The super- 
visors of our school systems, both county and state, 
should be taken out of politics at the first opportunity. 
These educational positions should no more be political 
in character than the pastorates of the church. It is 
one of the most mischievous mistakes of democracy 
to suppose that a Democratic or Republican county 



ii4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

superintendent of schools is better than the other, ac- 
cording to one's view of political things. It is one of 
the left-overs of an antiquated attitude toward the 
management of public affairs by the people. What the 
people now demand is educational efficiency and not po- 
litical attachment. They want educational leaders who 
are not faddists but real experts, who are given both 
authority and money to carry out wise plans, unham- 
pered by fear of political interferences. It is probable 
that our city school systems suffer more than do our 
rural schools from politics. But the evil is a national 
one in both city and country and ought to be abolished. 
Furthermore, the time has come for federal appro- 
priations for aid to rural education. Some of our edu- 
cational leaders are strongly opposed to such a policy. 
They believe that it looks toward undue centralization 
and autocracy. There is a widespread tradition that 
education is purely a local matter. But if this was ever 
true, it is so no longer. In the New Day it is to be seri- 
ously, desperately a national matter. Is it anything 
short of a national scandal that when our great army 
was mobilized, we found so large a percentage of illit- 
erates? Long since have we discovered that Asiatic 
cholera is not a concern of San Francisco alone, nor yel- 
low fever of New Orleans alone, nor Spanish influenza 
of Boston alone, but that any plague spot, no matter 
how small, is a menace to the entire country. We must 
cease to think that the failure of any community, large 
or small, properly to educate its children is a local ques- 
tion. So long as boys and girls have the right to go 
from one community to another, just so long their edu- 
cation is a national affair. We need a national educa- 
tional policy with respect to the education of the rural 
people. We need a strong, well supported national 



EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE 115 

Bureau of Education. We need a certain measure of 
federal support for the local rural school. To deprive 
this school of its initiative, its local management, of 
the necessity of local support, would of course be fatal 
to its best efficiency. The great gain through federal 
direction and support of the development of a national 
policy lies in the opportunity to aid and stimulate the 
small farming community to give its boys and its girls as 
good an education as can be obtained in the largest city 
of the union. 

A FEW SUGGESTIONS ABOUT AGRICULTURAL 
EDUCATION 

During the past fifty years, America has organized 
a comprehensive system of agricultural education, per- 
haps in its extent and scope the greatest of any country 
in the world. There exists an agricultural college in 
each state, giving both college grade work and short 
courses for those not desiring to graduate; schools of 
agriculture designed for boys and girls under 18 years 
of age; a rapidly increasing number of agricultural de- 
partments of public high schools; the teaching of agri- 
culture as a subject in the high schools alongside of 
algebra and language, and hundreds of thousands of 
boys and girls working in the agricultural clubs of the 
various states. A great army is training for agricul- 
ture. But that is only part of the story. Under the 
Smith-Lever Act of 19 12, there was established a na- 
tional system of extension service which endeavors to 
reach practically every farmer in the land with the best 
the agricultural colleges can give. As a result of the 
act, the farm bureau system is emerging and will soon 
be found in nearly every agricultural county in the 
United States. The United States Department of 



n6 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Agriculture is by far the greatest piece of government 
machinery in the world for gathering and distributing 
information about agricultural subjects. The Depart- 
ment, together with the experiment stations in each 
state, constitutes a remarkable group of investigational 
institutions. It is doubtful if farmers realize or ap- 
preciate the extent to which public money is now de- 
voted to the three great methods of agricultural educa- 
tion — scientific investigation, the training of leaders 
and specialists, and the widespread dissemination of in- 
formation. 

But we have not yet solved the problem. A number 
of matters ought to be met at once if we are to adapt 
our system of agricultural education to the New Day. 

It is highly important that in every state the logical 
distinction in work between a board, department or 
commissioner of agriculture, and the colleges and 
schools of agriculture, should be recognized and acted 
upon. The principle of division is perfectly clear. 
The real work of a board or department of agriculture 
is administrative; that is to say, it enforces laws pro- 
tecting the farmer or possibly laws regulating his busi- 
ness. It administers the police powers of the state in- 
sofar as they are directed toward agriculture. If there 
is a piece of land development to take place under the 
authority of the state, its administration should go to 
the department of agriculture. Whenever the state, 
through the -legislature, attempts to assist the agricul- 
tural interests, the administration of those laws belongs 
to the department of agriculture. 

On the other hand, the work of the agricultural col- 
leges and schools is educational. All effort to make 
thorough-going investigations in any field, whether con- 
cerned with the soil or with distribution of products or 



EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE 117 

with country life, belongs to the educational institution. 
The teaching of students of course is the province of 
the schools. Originally the work of disseminating in- 
formation belonged to boards of agriculture, but with 
the rise of the extension service of the colleges and the 
county farm bureaus, it is clear that their function is 
also to spread information among all the farmers. 
This division of labor has been agreed to by representa- 
tives of the colleges and the state departments of agri- 
culture. It only remains to carry out the purpose in 
every state. Misunderstandings have arisen and there 
has been loss of energy and efficiency on account of this 
misunderstanding. It no longer should prevail. 

There needs to be wide extension of the system of 
schools of agriculture, intended to be finishing schools, 
not schools preparatory for college. Doubtless, the 
boy graduating at such a school of agriculture should be 
able to secure further education if he wants it. But we 
cannot have an adequate system of agricultural educa- 
tion unless we have abundant opportunities for training 
for farming boys below the college age. Indeed, when 
our system of agriculture is thoroughly developed, by 
far the larger number of farmers who have studied ag- 
riculture in school will be graduates not of agricultural 
colleges, but of agricultural schools. It is to be hoped 
that agricultural colleges will send out an increasing 
number of men and women who will seek their living on 
the farm. But perhaps the most important develop- 
ment that can now take place in our agricultural educa- 
tion consists in increasing very rapidly the number of 
agricultural schools. 

If we are to develop a system of agricultural educa- 
tion that will meet the demands of the time, we must 
very soon secure greater unity in the management of 



n8 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

these various educational agricultural enterprises. A 
mere listing of these agencies of control suggests the 
problem. The United States Department of Agricul- 
ture is not only in itself a huge educational enterprise 
but it has oversight of the federal funds spent by the 
various experiment stations and for teaching in agricul- 
tural colleges; it exercises a great deal of authority in 
the expenditure of federal money devoted to the exten- 
sion service. The United States Bureau of Education, 
which will probably become a cabinet department of 
education, has by law a certain amount of oversight of 
the federal money used for teaching in agricultural col- 
leges, and of course as a Federal bureau, has a very in- 
timate connection with the entire national system of 
public education. Our latest piece of educational legis- 
lation by Congress is the Smith-Hughes Act which pro- 
vides for a greatly enlarged plan of secondary educa- 
tion in the industries, agriculture and home making. 
There is a Federal Board of Vocational Education 
which has complete charge of the enforcement of this 
law, supplemented in each state by a similar board. 
Each agricultural college is managed under a board of 
trustees, having definite powers granted by the legisla- 
ture. State boards of education claim an interest in 
the methods and results of agricultural education simply 
because they are a part of the system of public support 
of education. County farm bureaus in at least one 
state are no longer mere organizations of farmers, but 
are legally public agencies, supported at public expense. 
In some states, they are separate schools of agriculture, 
usually administered under some central authority, 
either the college of agriculture or the state board of 
education. Sometimes, however, they are managed lo- 
cally. Then we have innumerable township or district 



EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE 119 

school communities and school boards managing the 
rural school and sometimes responsible for a rural high 

school. 

Now all these agencies deal with agricultural educa- 
tion to a greater or less extent. One of the great needs 
in our agricultural work to-day is to secure the definite 
cooperation of all these authorities, in order to make a 
complete system of agricultural education. This will 
have to be done by law and it probably will not be done 
unless the farmers themselves insist upon it in both state 
and nation. We are not suggesting merging all these 
agencies into one, but simply the unification of plan and 
effort for the sake of efficiency. 

We also need to make a much more extensive and 
thorough-going plan for the scientific investigation of 
our agricultural problem. A vast amount of work has 
been done and is being done to-day. The modern 
teaching of agriculture has been made possible by the 
men of science in the experiment stations and the United 
States Department of Agriculture. This need of en- 
larged research is particularly evident in the fields of 
economics and of social life. For years, the farmers 
have been urging that the problem of distribution is 
much more important to them than the problems of 
production; yet only a fraction of the amount of money 
spent for investigations concerned with the soil and the 
plant and the animal has been available for making 
studies concerning markets and other phases of the dis- 
tribution question. Research must not stop even here. 
We need some of the best minds of the time at work 
on the basic problems of human life as they can be 
worked out in a farm community. What are the fun- 
damental problems of a rural democracy the world 
over? We must train leaders for this rural democ- 



120 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

racy, but they cannot be leaders unless they know the 
issues at stake. Instinctively, we all know that the 
great aid given by education to the farmer consists in 
helping him to work out his human problem — how to 
take and keep his place in society — and yet we are 
short-sighted enough to call the students of these sub- 
jects theorists, and we continue to demand educational 
results merely in terms of bigger crops. 

EDUCATION IN A RURAL DEMOCRACY 

All these suggestions do not after all reach the main 
issue. They have been made merely to indicate some 
of the most important steps that should be taken. But 
we must go down to much more fundamental things. 
We must gain a new conception of the part education is 
to play in building up our rural democracy. Education 
is the very life blood of democracy. Democracy can- 
not be efficient, indeed, it can hardly exist apart from 
education. A democratic education, however, is not 
achieved merely by compulsory attendance at school; 
Germany did all that. Schools easily become mechan- 
ical. Our whole system of rural education now needs 
vitalizing. Education should become the main concern 
of our democracy. The statesmanship of education is 
vastly more important than that of any other one fea- 
ture of democratic society except that of international 
relationships, and even the latter is founded on genuine 
and widespread education. The problems of educa- 
tion are little understood by our law-makers. They 
are incidental in the thinking of our people. Educa- 
tion is given too narrow a definition, confined to the 
idea of schooling for the youngsters. 

The New Day calls not only for the development of 
a comprehensive program based upon an adequate na- 



EDUCATION OF RURAL PEOPLE 121 

tional policy of rural education and thorough-going co- 
operation of the different parts of our educational sys- 
tem, but it means education for education. We need a 
widespread campaign among the people themselves on 
behalf of the significance and meaning of education in 
a rural democracy. The farmers are to be trained for 
their work in its broadest aspects — production, distri- 
bution, conservation. They are to catch a vision of 
their obligations as well as their rights, — all of their 
relations to the world's food supply, their part in main- 
taining the fabric of the world. They must rise to the 
new demands upon the democratic system. They must 
sense the need of an organization of their forces, both 
for the sake of self-interest and in order that they may 
contribute their full share to the solution of our world 
problems. Education must open up to the farmers the 
" kingdoms of knowledge." The democratic system 
must assume that its members want culture, want art, 
want music, want good literature and that they can not 
only appreciate it but can live and thrive on it. Edu- 
cation should compass the whole range of human inter- 
est for the farmer — work, citizenship, life. Rural 
education is a matter that goes far beyond the mainte- 
nance of a good rural school system or the development 
of means of agricultural education. These are vital, 
but they are only parts of the problem. The main task 
in rural education is to keep the rural democracy for- 
ever studying, thinking, discussing, growing. The 
farmers therefore should back a great movement on be- 
half of the fullest possible education of our rural peo- 
ple. Our educational statesmen should press for a 
comprehensive program and take the farmers into their 
confidence. We have no time to lose. The new world 
order demands an adequate education of the rural peo- 
ple in every country in the world. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN AGRI- 
CULTURE AND COUNTRY LIFE 

For half a century the leaders of farmers have urged 
" organization " or " cooperation " as the second of 
the two essentials to rural progress, and many efforts 
have been made to organize farmers. The results 
have not been entirely satisfactory. In earlier days, 
the aim was to form great farmers' organizations — 
associations dealing with all aspects of agricultural im- 
provement and designed to include the farmers gener- 
ally, irrespective of the section of the country in which 
they lived or of the particular kind of agriculture in 
which they were engaged. The Grange was the ear- 
liest and is yet the most typical of these organizations. 
A secret society, it was frankly patterned after one of 
the great fraternal orders. It has its rituals, its pass- 
words, its initiations. The Grange movement swept 
the country, then subsided, and again began a steady but 
substantial growth. For the past ten or fifteen years, 
it has more than held its own where at the beginning of 
the century it had any real foothold. The Farmers' 
Alliance sprang up and for a time took the place of the 
Grange, but was finally absorbed by the Knights of La- 
bor and the Populist party. Its successor is the Farm- 
ers' Union, patterned in many respects after the Grange 
but less avowedly pushing its educational and social 
aims, and frankly ambitious to secure business coopera- 

122 



ORGANIZATION 123 

tion on a large scale. It has a large membership, 
chiefly in the South and in the West. The American 
Society of Equity, organized in the Middle West, has 
for its main purpose the improvement of economic con- 
ditions among farmers. Especial emphasis is laid upon 
equitable returns to the farmer for his produce. 

Another group of societies, started even before the 
great farmers' organizations, are of special interest. 
These were associations of stock breeders, fruit grow- 
ers, dairymen, etc. At the beginning they were in- 
tended largely for educational or conference purposes 
and were only to a slight extent business organizations. 
Many of them are still of this character, but some of 
the most powerful are frankly engaged in the effort to 
improve facilities for collective bargaining and even to 
influence legislation designed either to encourage or to 
protect the industry. 

Collective bargaining, or, as it has usually been called 
business cooperation, was one of the great objectives of 
the earlier farmers' organizations; but this phase of 
their work has never been a complete success. Indeed, 
in spite of many individual instances of successful 
Grange stores, Union warehouses, etc., and in spite of 
the fact that efforts and discussion prepared the way for 
collective bargaining, there was a vital defect in the 
plans. Successful collective bargaining on the part of 
farmers is dependent chiefly upon the ability of a rela- 
tively small group of farmers who live near together 
and grow the same things, to pool their interests in the 
buying of supplies and in selling the particular products 
they grow. The Grange and other great farmers' or- 
ganizations took into membership farmers who were 
growing a variety of things and sometimes endeavored 
to lump all the products together for purposes of sale; 



i2 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

but the plan never worked well. Moreover, none of 
these societies actually embraced all the farmers of the 
community or even the majority of them in most cases. 
Many Grange members are not producers. Identity 
of interests is the very foundation of collective bargain- 
ing; diversity of interests is fatal to its success. So it 
has remained for specialized cooperative enterprises 
such as the California Fruit Growers' Exchange, and 
more recently a large number of similar efforts, really 
to set in motion the beginning of a system of coopera- 
tive buying and selling among farmers. 

A NEW MEANING TO ORGANIZATION 

We are beginning to use the word " organization " 
in a new sense, and this change of definition is exceed- 
ingly important. The idea may perhaps be expressed, 
first, by saying that " organization " is much broader 
than an organization. Just as we think of education as 
far more than school and college, so organization is far 
more than the cooperation of one thousand people or 
even a million people for some one end. In this book 
the word " association " is used to describe the various 
cooperating groups of farmers, and the word " organ- 
ization " for a different, and we think a larger, idea. 
But what is this larger idea? We may say that rural 
organization is the cooperation of all available agencies 
on behalf of a definite program to improve agriculture 
and country life and to adjust the interests of farmers 
to the common good of the nation and of the world. 
Organization brings to bear upon any problem all the 
forces that can help solve the problem. Organization 
is of universal application. An individual can organize 
his life; so can a nation; indeed the war has brought us 
face to face with the problem of world organization. 



ORGANIZATION 125 

A farmer can organize his business so that he gets the 
maximum use of his capital and his labor, his time and 
his energy; only so does the greatest efficiency result. 
The housewife may follow similar methods in the 
home. The large association is well organized or 
poorly organized, depending upon whether it uses the 
powers tied up in it by reason of people cooperating, or 
whether it fails to develop a big plan and to get every- 
body working to carry out the plan. Schools, colleges, 
churches, societies, communities, governments, busi- 
nesses may be well organized or poorly organized, ac- 
cording to the extent to which they succeed in gaining 
the intelligent cooperation of all the elements available 
for attaining their ends. It is organization in this 
newer meaning of the word, supplementing education, 
that holds the key to the success of the farmer in the 
New Day. 

Let us consider briefly some of the more important 
applications of the principle of organization to rural 
affairs. 

I. THE BETTER ORGANIZATION OF EXISTING AGENCIES 

Each institution or associated effort devoted to rural 
improvement should seek the highest possible efficiency. 
It needs to take an account of stock and to discover 
whether the New Day makes new demands upon it. 
The great established institutions like the school, the 
farmers' organizations, the church, and government it- 
self, must still be the main reliance of rural effort, now 
and for all time, but with a new sense of social responsi- 
bility that will call for vastly increased effort and pos- 
sibly almost complete reconstruction. 

Each institution therefore needs to seek the most effi- 
cient organization for itself. It is a serious matter 



126 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

when an important institution settles down to a con- 
tentment with its methods and its results. It should be 
as ambitious as the most ambitious youth, for maximum 
efficiency and thorough-going organization. It should 
always be for progress, always anxious to be in the 
front line trenches. It should never stand still. No 
matter how glorious its past may have been, it should 
constantly look forward to new achievement. Not 
what it has done, but what is next for it to do, is the 
main concern. 

What are the steps by which each one of these vari- 
ous institutions can become better organized? There 
are perhaps four of these steps which may be men- 
tioned but not elaborated. 

i. All institutions tend to concern themselves dispro- 
portionately with their methods and working details 
and to overlook the real ends or purposes for which 
they are supposed to exist. The most searching self- 
questioning on the part of every rural institution is now 
in order. What is its task or function? How can it 
most fully help the farmer? What are the large ends 
for it to seek? 

Therefore, each institution should clearly define its 
own task. This seems a simple enough matter. But 
very few agencies have tried to do it. They have gen- 
eral notions about what they are to do, but they tend 
to spread themselves widely and often to disregard the 
work of other agencies. Lack of aim results in loss of 
power. The fundamental need is for each institution 
to ask itself what is the main purpose of its establish- 
ment, what is its part in rural improvement, what are 
the real reasons for its existence. 

2. Each institution should develop an adequate pol- 
icy. What are the fundamental principles upon which 



ORGANIZATION 127 

its efforts should be based? What sort of program is 
practicable at the present time for the purpose of carry- 
ing out these principles? How can this institution best 
perform its task? What are the methods, devices, 
plans that will be most effective? 

Each institution should have a program composed of 
a series of definite objectives, together with lists of 
methods worth trying in order to gain these objectives. 
This program will vary from time to time, will be dif- 
ferent in its application to different parts of the country 
and even to different communities in the same state or 
county. It cannot be a hard and fast outline of meth- 
ods for the local community, but it ought to be sugges- 
tive and helpful — devices that have been a success. 
A so-called program may be merely a piece of writing 
which anybody with a facile pen can evolve. A real 
program is hammered out of the thought and experi- 
ence of the people who are doing the work, and has 
the advantage of keeping before them something clear- 
cut and definite, something that they can come back to 
every little while and check up in order to discover 
whether they are making progress. 

3. How can each institution cooperate with other 
associations and institutions in order to avoid duplica- 
tion of effort or misunderstanding of purpose? How 
may this institution participate in the great getting- 
together, the larger cooperation that is evidently essen- 
tial to rural efficiency? 

This is a hard test. Institutions as well as individ- 
uals are subject to the human passions of jealousy and 
envy. One of the most conspicuous examples of this 
fact is in a community having four or five small strug- 
gling churches, when one good strong church would 
fully suffice. Some of the most unchristian things that 



128 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the angels have to witness occur under these conditions. 
The only solution is the spirit of community service 
overcoming the spirit of group pride. 

4. Each institution must in some measure train its 
own leaders. Relying upon schools and colleges to 
furnish formal instruction, the agency itself needs to de- 
termine the sort of men and women it will have in its 
personnel. Particularly will it seek to develop all la- 
tent leadership within its ranks. 

II. THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURE BY SUB- 
INDUSTRIES 

Perhaps the most important single step in the organ- 
ization of American agriculture is the organization of 
sub-industries or producing groups. By sub-industries 
is meant wheat growing, cotton growing, apple grow- 
ing, dairying and so on. This feature of rural organ- 
ization, so characteristic of agriculture in Europe, has 
not gone very far in the United States. In the earlier 
days, the old horticultural societies, live stock associa- 
tions, etc., were educational in character. Later there 
grew up quite highly developed associations of breed- 
ers of various kinds of pure bred live stock. Their 
purposes were not always clearly defined but among 
them that of pushing the sale of their particular breed 
of stock was prominent. In some parts of the country 
the dairymen are becoming organized. There are 
several associations of grain growers and producers of 
beef cattle that are doing vigorous work. But as a 
rule the field of effort of these organizations is limited. 
Perhaps the nearest approach to a complete organiza- 
tion of a sub-industry or a group of sub-industries is 
found in the work of the California Fruit Growers' Ex- 
change, through which the citrus fruit growers of Cal- 



ORGANIZATION 129 

ifornia have developed an enormous cooperative busi- 
ness. All the other producing groups should get to- 
gether in similar fashion — the wheat growers, the cot- 
ton growers, the corn growers, the butter makers, the 
market milk producers, and all the rest. 

What are the main advantages of organizing sub- 
industries? 

1. It enables the growers to standardize the methods 
of production. There is a premium put upon intensive 
study and experiment on the part of producers them- 
selves. The principles worked out by scientific investi- 
gators and the experience of other producers gradually 
coalesce in skillful management. Good farmers will 
always make the best effort, but if each man depends 
upon himself alone, the chances are that he will never 
get the best results. 

2. Collective bargaining either in buying or in sell- 
ing is practically impossible except by those who have 
identical industrial interests, that is, by those who have 
the same things to sell. They can pack them in the 
same way and give them a trade mark. 

3. Protection of farmers, whether through insurance 
or protective legislation, is best gained when the com- 
bined efforts of those who have similar needs are pooled 
for the same purpose. Groups of producers of sim- 
ilar products, as a rule, have similar problems. 

4. The educational possibilities in this type of organ- 
ization are exceedingly important. Education is a pub- 
lic function, but unless the work of the schools and col- 
leges is supplemented by the self-education of the 
farmer, the public money devoted to education is only 
partly justified. A group of individuals interested in 
the same business can study all phases of the business 
much better than any one individual can do it. More- 



i 3 o THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

over in large, well-organized industries, the farmers 
will employ their own experts, not to take the place of 
the government specialist but to supplement and en- 
force the teachings of the schools. 

5. To some extent an industry thus organized can 
control production, so that within certain limitations of 
climate and heat, a group of producers may be enabled 
to put upon the market the amount of product needed 
at prices that will give the majority of producers a 
reasonable return. Competition between regions in 
the same industry may be reduced, even if not elim- 
inated. The orange growers of Florida and Cali- 
fornia; the apple growers of Oregon and Maine; the 
dairymen of Vermont and New York are competitors 
rather than cooperators. When each of these indus- 
tries is fairly organized the country over, much can be 
done to reduce disastrous competition. 

A LOCAL UNIT IS THE BASIS OF GOOD INDUSTRIAL 
ORGANIZATION 

This statement is the alphabet of cooperative busi- 
ness organization. It virtually means the establish- 
ment of a cooperating group of farmers living fairly 
near together; in other words a community of farmers 
engaged in similar production. One farmer may grow 
half a dozen products; so consequently he will belong 
to half a dozen groups. A farmers' exchange may 
handle a variety of products, but it can do so profitably 
only as it is enabled to specialize in each product suffi- 
ciently to secure all the gains that come from concentra- 
tion of effort. There is still an ambition on the part of 
those who seek the organization of farmers to do some- 
thing big, to have a huge membership, to cover wide ter- 
ritory. For certain purposes, like influencing legisla- 



ORGANIZATION 131 

tion or dealing with huge corporate interests, a large 
overhead organization of farmers is necessary. The 
New England Milk Producers' Association is a wide- 
spread organization, with a large membership and an 
ample treasury, and has been a veritable godsend to the 
New England dairy farmers during the emergency cre- 
ated by the war. But the permanent effectiveness of 
such an organization among milk producers anywhere 
can be assured only when there exists a multitude of 
local dairymen's clubs or associations which, indeed, 
include practically all the individual dairymen in each 
community. The " local " is the strength of any as- 
sociated effort. The local farmers' exchange, the local 
egg circles, the local apple growers' association, the 
local Grange, the local school, the local church — these 
are the very bedrock of permanent and effective organ- 
ization of rural agencies. The overhead organization 
should not be composed of individuals but should be a 
union of federation of locals. Local unions may be 
combined into district unions (not on a county basis un- 
less the county forms a natural marketing area), state 
unions and national unions. There may also be re- 
gional unions. 

III. ORGANIZATION FOR OBJECTIVES 

This is a very important phase of organization, al- 
though at first thought it may not interest the farmers. 
It means simply cooperative effort to reach some defi- 
nite aim by bringing to bear upon it all the forces that 
are available. It may take the form of a " drive " for 
getting all the farmers in a certain apple growing re- 
gion to spray fruit trees, or to increase production of a 
certain crop. Or it may be a little more ambitious, tak- 
ing the form of what might be called a " development 



132 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

campaign "; as for clean milk or for rural health. It 
is in reality a program for a definite goal that has to be 
participated in by a good many agencies and many kinds 
of services performed. For example, in a dairy cam- 
paign, there should be plans for scientific research, 
bringing up the quality of dairy cattle, or better meth- 
ods of dairy farm management, or a system of milk 
distribution that is valuable to the farmer, or advertis- 
ing the food value of milk. Proper laws should be 
passed and administered. No one agency could do all 
this work, for it is partly educational and partly admin- 
istrative. It means a combination, on some well de- 
fined plan, of the milk producers' association, the milk 
handlers and consumers, the agricultural college and the 
farm bureaus, the state board of agriculture, and the 
United States Department of Agriculture. 

It may be desirable also to organize the main fields of 
agricultural effort, such as production, distribution, 
country life, political interests, because each one of 
these groups has special problems and cooperative in- 
terests. 

It is probably clear to all that in organizing for ob- 
jectives there must be the leadership of some agency or 
group which will take the initiative in bringing together 
all the agencies that will play a part in the work. The 
whole program must be mapped out, an effort made to 
find out just what needs to be done, what each agency 
can do and how they will all work together for the com- 
mon end. 

IV. ORGANIZATION BY REGIONS 

Prior to our entr?nce into the war, comparatively lit- 
tle attention had been paid to the thorough organiza- 
tion of the food production in any given region as a unit. 



ORGANIZATION 133 

Neither in community, county, state or nation had there 
been a consistent food production program; but 
within a few weeks after war was declared, there came 
into being a multitude of food production committees. 
In nearly every state in the Union, probably in a very 
large proportion of the agricultural counties of the 
country and in thousands of local communities, these 
committees appeared. This organization by regions, 
illustrated in the war emergency plans, is perhaps the 
most important phase of rural organization and should 
be made permanent. The idea of regional organiza- 
tion has wide applications. 

1. The Individual Farmer. No one needs to argue 
with the good farmer about the importance of organiz- 
ing his business. Skillful farm management is the acid 
test of good farming and is probably to-day the big out- 
standing need of our agriculture as it relates to the effi- 
ciency of the individual farmer. American agriculture 
will be fully efficient only when every one of our seven 
millions of farmers becomes a good manager. Organ- 
ization is the secret of farm management; it secures a 
union of forces in the most effective way to get the re- 
sults the farmer wants. 

2. The Farm Home. All that has been said in re- 
gard to the farm applies to the home. To those who 
have given the matter little thought, an argument for 
organizing the home may seem to be impracticable. It 
is not only practicable, but vitally important that each 
home shall do its share, serve its purpose, in the best 
way. This is not a mere private matter as some sup- 
pose, but one of the utmost consequence to the welfare 
of farmers and of the nation. The secret of a fine 
home is the right spirit and atmosphere; without these 
organization is futile. But in the best sense, organiza- 



i 3 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

tion, management, skillful handling are what make the 
home effective. Organization is not a cold-blooded 
piece of efficient machinery. Good organization takes 
into consideration the human factors, and in the home a 
large part of the management of organization consists 
in the tact and affection and vision of the home maker. 

3. The Neighborhood. The National Council of 
Defense recently issued a nation-wide appeal for the or- 
ganization of school districts which are virtually neigh- 
borhoods of farmers. Much good will come from this 
effort. But it is a very grave question as to whether so 
small a group as live in a school district or farming 
neighborhood can be organized effectively, although 
there is no reason why such neighborhoods should not 
cooperate in every way possible for their common inter- 
ests. 

4. The Local Community. Here we come to one of 
the most important matters connected with rural im- 
provement. The organization of the local farming 
community is in some ways the biggest single enterprise 
for the farmer in the New Day. This is so significant 
that we shall devote considerable space to it. It means 
the effort to persuade all the people and all the local 
associations and agencies of the community to pull to- 
gether for the common good. By " community " is 
meant that local area, not always clearly defined, which 
has or may have its own school and church and organ- 
izations, a region large enough to organize well and 
small enough so that everybody may become ac- 
quainted. 

5. The County or District. It might be better, the- 
oretically, if the natural farming districts could be set 
apart for organization purposes, based on the presence 
of a central market town. But the advent of the 



ORGANIZATION 135 

county farm bureau has probably fixed for all time the 
county unit of organized endeavor. The county has 
some advantages. There is a good deal of county 
patriotism throughout the United States. The county 
is the smallest effective political unit in most parts of 
our country. The movement to organize agriculture 
on a county basis is making rapid headway. 

6. The State. No state in America has ever devel- 
oped a consistent and comprehensive agricultural pol- 
icy or unified effort to get the maximum results for its 
agriculture. Yet that is merely the business-like thing 
to do. Each state ought to take stock of its resources in 
agriculture, of its possibilities and its needs, laying out 
a definite program for improvement, and then seeking 
to bring together all the different public and voluntary 
associations that will make the achievement of the pro- 
gram possible. It is strange that we have not done this 
before. There is now a strong feeling all over the 
country that this is the statesmanlike method and that 
it must be done if we are to get full effectiveness in our 
agriculture. 

7. Groups of States. There are certain groups of 
states that have many things in common. The South, 
for example, both because of the likeness of its products 
and its historic unity, seems a natural region for coop- 
eration. The New England states form a natural unit. 
The Rocky Mountain states have much more in com- 
mon with each other than they have with any other 
part of the country, by reason of possibilities of irriga- 
tion and of dry farming. The so-called crop " belts " 
such as the corn belt, the wheat belt, sugar beet belt and 
the cotton belt, form less distinctive but nevertheless 
important regional interests. It would be a great gain 
to American agriculture if the whole country were di- 



136 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

vided into six or eight of these natural regions or zones 
in which the economic problems of the farmers are sim- 
ilar. This process has already developed in a partial 
way. For example, the South has unified her agricul- 
tural enterprises to a considerable degree. The South 
has probably made greater progress in agriculture in 
the last 15 or 20 years than has any other part of our 
country, and we believe it is due partly to the organized 
endeavors of the southern people as a group. 

8. The Nation. This is the culminating form of 
rural organization as applied to a region. It simply 
means, as has been said before, that we should regard 
the seven million farms of the country as one big farm, 
and the seven million farmers as one big family. The 
farmer cannot play his part in the New Day unless 
American agriculture as a whole is thoroughly organ- 
ized, with adequate policies and programs and with ma- 
chinery for securing the cooperation of all concerned. 
This, too, will be the subject of a chapter by itself. 

9. Urban and Rural. We must find a method by 
which the industrial and commercial interests of the city 
may strike hands with the interests of the farmers, 
through some form of organization which will place 
these two interests in the proper relation one to the 
other and secure their fullest cooperation. 

10. The World. The idea of a world organization 
of agriculture is not new. Its first prophet was David 
Lubin, who planned the International Institute of Agri- 
culture in Rome. The war has made imperative what 
to many before the war seemed like a dream. We 
shall be obliged to recognize the world's interest in the 
control and use of the land as a source of food supply. 
The land problem in Russia is the fundamental problem 
of Russian democracy. Russia is rural, of course; but 



ORGANIZATION 137 

the land problem in England which is urban is almost 
equally important. We can no longer think of agricul- 
ture in a purely national sense. The farmers of the 
world must meet the New Day in the spirit and effec- 
tiveness of world-wide organization. 

IS THERE A PLACE FOR THE GENERAL FARMERS' 
ASSOCIATIONS? 

This is a question that will interest many thousands 
of farmers belonging to these great organizations. 
The answer is in the affirmative. There is no reason 
why organization that has broad purposes, high aims 
and aggressive programs should not have a most im- 
portant place in rural welfare. But as the organiza- 
tion of sub-industries develop, it would seem as if the 
principles of these great organizations should be very 
clearly defined and every effort made to fit in to the ac- 
tivities of other associated groups. For example, if 
the wheat farmers and cotton farmers and stock farm- 
ers are thoroughly organized, just where will the 
Grange come in? Does not its mission lie very largely 
in the fact that it is a sort of fraternity, a family of fam- 
ilies, comprising men, women and children, and that its 
educational and social teachings are probably its great- 
est assets? There is no reason, however, why the 
Grange should not play the part it has in the past — a 
great part in securing better conditions for farmers. 
So also with the Farmers' Union. And while the ex- 
istence of the great farmers' organizations is highly de- 
sirable, there is no doubt but it is difficult, if not impos- 
sible, to have one inclusive farmers' organization. 
Our country is so large, the intermingling of the masses 
of farmers in the different sections is so nearly impossi- 
ble, the special needs of the different regions differ so 



138 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

greatly, the presence of competing needs is so diverse, 
that an organization that would actually enlist in its 
active membership a large majority of our seven mil- 
lion farmers is practically out of the question. 

SHOULD WE HAVE AN AGRARIAN ORGANIZATION? 

By agrarian organization is meant a farmers' asso- 
ciation designed to look after the special interests of 
farmers, possibly to resist the demand of other classes. 
In this sense, of course it is unfortunate that farmers 
have to organize. Such procedure incites class con- 
sciousness, develops a struggle for class interests. 
Nevertheless, if a great group of industrial workers 
like the farmers does not guard its own interests 
through organization, it is likely to suffer. It is pos- 
sible, therefore, that there ought to be in America what 
might be called a fighting farmers' organization. But 
we are inclined to believe that the most effective fight- 
ing organization of farmers will be a federation of pro- 
ducers' organizations, for the reason that the producers 
will have very definite problems and difficulties. Each 
group, it is true, has its special interests to look after. 
Nearly all efforts on the part of farmers to influence 
legislation arise out of some economic need. There- 
fore, it would seem as if the organization which deals 
with the business of the great sub-industries would be 
the one best adapted to secure legislation. If questions 
arise that interest a large number of producing groups, 
the various producers' associations can act together. 

CERTAIN PROPOSITIONS CONCERNING RURAL ORGAN- 
IZATION 

i. Organization is the only way to full efficiency. 
We have had a planless agriculture. We find serious 



ORGANIZATION 139 

overlapping of activities on the part of different agen- 
cies. We find also serious overlooking of vital needs 
by these same agencies. Sometimes there is real fric- 
tion, misunderstanding, and consequently a waste of 
time, money and effort in duplicated endeavor. Good 
organization would avoid these defects. 

2. Rural organization must be of the cooperative, 
not of the military, type. German efficiency was real, 
but it was purchased at the expense of the individual. 
Cooperative or voluntary organization is not so effec- 
tive in detail as the military or compulsory form, be- 
cause all the people will not voluntarily cooperate all 
the time for all purposes. The only way to do it 
is by making an army of them. But there are 
manifest advantages in voluntary organization. The 
genius of democracy is cooperation and not compul- 
sion. 

3. Good organization does not submerge the indi- 
vidual; it enlarges him. It may subordinate him to the 
common good, and it ought to do so. It says that no 
one individual and no small group of individuals shall 
fatten at the expense of the rest. Organization recog- 
nizes that the individual at his best is the most effective 
force for the common good; that people are the vital 
factor rather than machinery or methods of organiza- 
tion. Organization seeks, therefore, to make each in- 
dividual the most effective possible, but effective both 
for his own good and for the common good. More- 
over, under ordinary conditions, the average individual 
can come to his best estate only as a part of an effective 
organization, so that good organization is really and 
fully democratic. 

4. Organization eventually reduces rather than mul- 
tiplies the number of associations, because it demands 



140 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the utmost efficiency of each agency and finds no place 
for useless effort. 

5. Organization of the voluntary type can never be 
exact or complete, in the sense of a machine-like order 
or thoroughness, but it can be better than that, for it 
can inspire each man and each group to do its best for 
the common good in cooperation with all the rest. 

6. All schemes of organization must leave place for 
new groupings, or soon we have a close corporation. 
Each new effort to organize must justify itself by its 
effectiveness, by demonstrating that it has a mission to 
perform. 

7. Collective bargaining is the most pressing single 
problem in rural organization at the present time. It 
has been often said that business cooperation in agricul- 
ture will come only as the result of dire necessity. This 
is true, but the statement needs qualifying. Necessity 
may drive farmers away from the farm instead of into 
cooperation; farmers may give up in discouragement 
rather than go to the trouble of organizing for business 
ends. It is possible, although still difficult, to organize 
farmers who are making a fair profit, if they feel that 
they are not getting a square deal and could do better 
by organization. Collective bargaining requires intel- 
ligence, confidence in the idea of cooperation, and com- 
plete loyalty — these must be added to mere necessity. 
One of our greatest difficulties in agricultural business 
cooperation has been that the abler farmers often hold 
aloof. Necessity is the mother of business coopera- 
tion. Is the new demand for an organization of the 
world's food supply a sufficient necessity to spur the 
farmers of America to thorough-going organization for 
collective bargaining? 



ORGANIZATION 141 

8. The organization of country life interests is vital. 
Welfare is more than wealth. 

9. All efforts to organize American agriculture 
should relate themselves to an effort to organize world 
agriculture. 

10. Organization is supremely in need of leadership, 
both the expert and professional leadership of trained 
specialists and the active, intelligent, aggressive leader- 
ship of successful farmers and their wives. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE MAKING OF RURAL COMMUNITIES 
THE COMMUNITY IDEA 

" We propose meeting together, talking together, buying to- 
gether, selling together, and, in general, acting together for our 
mutual protection and advancement." 

Declaration of Purposes of the Grange. 

The spirit of this quotation, extended to all the people 
of a farming locality, is the community spirit. To- 
getherness rather than aloneness is the community idea. 
A true community includes the interests of every one 
living in the community — old and young, native and 
foreign, wise and foolish. The community idea as- 
sumes that every soul belongs to the democracy. It is 
based on the recognition of the rights of each individ- 
ual, even the humblest, combined with the duty to neigh- 
bors that is the obligation of each, even of the strong- 
est. But the community idea assumes more than that. 
It holds that the unit of interest is the common interest 
of all, not merely the combined individual interests of 
many. There is a vast difference between endeavoring 
to compromise the desires of a hundred individuals each 
seeking chiefly his personal welfare, and trying to bring 
the separate items of personal welfare into one pro- 
gram of common advancement — much the same differ- 
ence that exists between bringing separate rings of iron 
into a pile and welding separate links into a chain. 
One is accommodation ; the other is brotherhood. The 

142 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 143 

core of the community idea, then, as applied to rural 
life, is that we must make the community — as a unit, 
an entity, a thing — the point of departure in all our 
thinking about the rural problem and in its local, prac- 
tical application the direct aim of all organized efforts 
for improvement or redirection. The building of real 
local farm communities is perhaps the main task in 
erecting an adequate rural civilization. Here is the 
real goal of all rural effort, the inner kernel of a sane 
country-life movement, the moving slogan of the cam- 
paign for rural progress that must be waged by the 
present generation. 

BUT WHAT IS A COMMUNITY? 

It is not a neighborhood or even a hamlet. A mere 
collection of people dwelling in houses somewhat near 
together or within easy reach of one another does not 
constitute a community. Neighborhood life is import- 
ant and neighborhood spirit vital. But a " neighbor- 
hood," as most American farmers understand the term, 
is not likely to be a true community. 

The New England states teach us some lessons in 
rural organization. The " town " — or as it is better 
known in other parts of the country, the township — 
forms a natural community. New England was settled 
by communities, or groups, or towns. When people 
decided to seek new homes they went as a community 
and formed a new town. Each town had its church — 
and it is interesting to remember that the members of 
the church and the members of the political town had 
to be the same people. Each community had its school 
and its political or governmental life. Each New Eng- 
land town became a little democracy. It governed it- 
self to a very large degree. It planned its future, paid 



i 4 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

its own bills, managed its own affairs. Notice the use 
of the pronoun " it " not " they." For this town was a 
real unit, a sort of social person; it was not a mere col- 
lection of people, who happened to live near one an- 
other. Even to-day in the old-fashioned town meeting, 
the moderator — the presiding officer — announces 
that the town votes so and so or the town evidently 
wishes to do this or to do that. He does not say " the 
people of the town," rarely " the voters of the town," 
but " the town." 

The Township as a Community. The western town- 
ship is an arbitrary affair, purely a matter of a survey, 
and has no relation whatever to natural groupings of 
farmers. In many cases the township has a substantial 
village near the center which if on a railroad forms the 
market and trade point for the people of the town. 
This village often becomes the real center of the town- 
ship and makes it possible to have something approach- 
ing a community. In many townships there is no such 
center and the people find that their church life, the 
schooling of their children, their business interests, go 
in diverse directions. In such a case the township is 
not at all a community and it is difficult to make it one. 

The Team Haul. It has been rather wisely sug- 
gested that the team haul might determine the area of a 
rural community, for the reason that the teams haul 
products to whatever center the farmers actually find 
most convenient; consequently, this center becomes a 
natural gathering place around which cluster at least 
the business interests of a group of farmers. The so- 
cial and educational and recreational interests of a 
group of farmers, however, often lie out in the country, 
while their trading interests lie in some neighboring vil- 
lage or " town." 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 145 

The Consolidated School District. The consoli- 
dated school district seems almost the ideal area for a 
true community, not mainly nor perhaps even chiefly be- 
cause we are to think of the consolidated school as the 
one community center, but because in the very nature of 
the case the consolidated schoolhouse will be so located 
as to serve the interests of that group of farmers who 
support the school and who therefore are rather accus- 
tomed or at least will soon become accustomed to think- 
ing of themselves as having common interests. The 
location of the school is sometimes in the open country, 
but often in a small village; in either case, it is not at all 
unlikely that it may be found near a prominent church, 
Grange hall, elevator or creamery. The consolidated 
school district, therefore, forms more nearly a natural 
community area than any other district except the New 
England town. 

The North Carolina Plan. A law has been passed 
in North Carolina which makes it possible for a group 
of people to organize afresh a legal community much 
like the New England town. The possibilities of this 
sort of legislation are extremely interesting, because 
such communities can be definitely planned and not left 
to chance. 

The Practical Step. But how shall we really deter- 
mine the boundaries of the local community? We 
have these various tests, some good and some not so 
good. As a practical convenience, we would urge the 
use of the township wherever there is nothing imme- 
diately at hand that is better. When the Grange was 
organized fifty years ago, it had to face just this ques- 
tion — what should be the " jurisdiction " of the local 
or subordinate Grange ? The plan adopted was gener- 
ally to take the township as the unit. Departures have 



i 4 6 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

been made from this principle, but as a rule it will be 
found that a subordinate Grange draws its members 
substantially from a single farming township. This 
plan has worked well and if it serves the Grange, it 
ought to be satisfactory in the larger cooperation which 
is to be found in the organization of a real rural com- 
munity. Where a township cannot well constitute the 
area of a community, it can be made by mutual agree- 
ment, acting through county farm bureaus or some 
other overhead organization. The main thing is to set 
apart a region or an area big enough so that the farm- 
ers having similar interests may maintain those interests 
as a unit; so that they may have their own churches, 
their own schools, their own business agencies. Yet 
this community must be small enough so that the mem- 
bers of the community can all come together, not occa- 
sionally but frequently, to discuss their common inter- 
ests and to enjoy themselves as one big family. A com- 
munity can be in a measure self-supporting. It may 
stand on its own feet. It may learn to act as one man 
in common concerns. Therefore, it must not be so big 
as to destroy this common interest nor so small that it 
cannot support the organizations and agencies through 
which society is accustomed to work. 

COMMUNITY METHODS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT 

The individual farmer does not lose his identitv 
through the application of the community idea, for it 
has nothing in common with " communism " or " col- 
lectivism " or " socialism " as those words are ordina- 
rily understood. It is simply a more intensive and bet- 
ter developed form of rural cooperation than we have 
ever known. It takes the idea underlying the Grange, 
the cooperative idea that is the foundation of all our 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 147 

great farmers' organizations, and applies it to all the 
people of a natural group, not merely to a few selected 
members. Therefore the community idea can be ap- 
plied to nearly every aspect of the work and life of 
farmers. 

THE COMMUNITY IDEA IN PRODUCTION 

Farmers are in the habit of talking of their plans, of 
exchanging experiences, of discussing new methods, of 
aiding one another in times of labor shortage. Now 
let us press this practice a little farther, organize it a 
little more completely, and we shall have the com- 
munity idea applied to production. Thus we can " so- 
cialize " production. All students of the subject agree 
that we would make a great gain in our agricultural 
production if we could localize and standardize produc- 
tion. Can we persuade the farmers of a given natural 
community to grow just what they can grow best, and 
to grow nothing else, to grow the best of the kind that 
can be grown and of fairly uniform character and qual- 
ity? If this were done, the land of the community 
could be better adapted to the crops; the best methods 
could the more easily be adopted because all the farm- 
ers would seek exactly the same ends. This localizing 
of production takes advantage of the habits and tastes 
of the farmers of the community, the traditions of their 
farming skill and makes use of all their experience. 
Community production is not widely practiced, but it is 
by no means an entirely new or theoretical subject. 
For instance, a community in Wisconsin ships many 
thousands of dollars' worth of Holstein cattle each year 
through an annual sale. The Holstein breeders' asso- 
ciation pays for the advertising. The purpose of the 
breeders' association is to improve the native cattle by 



148 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the use of pure bred sires, all of the same breed, and 
also to put their business on a more substantial basis 
through cooperation. It has educational advantages 
as well as enabling breeders to cooperate in buying and 
selling. The development of many of the great breeds 
of pure bred live stock owe their origin and develop- 
ment to community breeding. This is true of Jersey, 
Guernsey, Ayreshire and Holstein cattle and Percheron 
horses. The methods of apple growers of Hood River 
Valley, of the Rocky Ford melon growers, of the po- 
tato growers of Greeley, Colo., are all illustrations of 
the advantages gained when an entire community de- 
votes its energy to that definite line of production for 
which it is best adapted. This principle is recognized 
by manufacturers, and we have shoe cities and automo- 
bile cities and jewelry cities. It is difficult to exag- 
gerate the advantages that accrue when a community of 
farmers sets out to bring production to this common 
basis, each farmer seeking to do his best and all work- 
ing together along a common line. Community pro- 
duction does not mean that a given community will 
grow only one crop — it will grow whatever crops can 
be best grown in that community, but whatever it does 
grow will be pushed to the limit. Standards will be set 
up. Quality will be sought. There is a common pur- 
pose and a common gain. 

Farm Management. Even in the matter of farm 
management — apparently a very individual affair — 
the most significant results come from an effort of a 
whole community to improve methods. Extension 
workers in farm management have already found that 
if they make a survey of all the farms in the community, 
they will find that certain farms are below the average- 
in their labor and income. This is the significant point. 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 149 

The farmer, like other people, is obliged to think in 
terms of his immediate surroundings and experiences, 
and if he finds that he is running behind the general 
average of neighboring farmers, he realizes that there 
is probably something wrong with him. This definite 
community of experience aids the less efficient to be- 
come more effective without in any way pulling down 
the more efficient. It helps to bring all the farmers to 
a higher level of effectiveness. 

Seed Selection. The individual farmer can, of 
course, select his own seed, but is more likely to do it 
carefully if there is a sentiment in his community which 
demands of each farmer the selection of the best seed 
and its careful testing. Indeed, a community of farm- 
ers may well select one of its number who is skilled in 
such matters to select and test seed corn for the entire 
community. If this principle were generally applied, 
we would soon find a great group of farm experts liv- 
ing right on the land and serving their local communi- 
ties in a most practical fashion. 

Use of Power. One of the greatest handicaps of 
the average American farmer, has been the absolute 
necessity of his making an increasing use of machinery 
and the relatively enormous expenses of getting it. 
Farm machinery has become indispensable and yet 
every business farmer as well as every authority on agri- 
cultural economics deprecates the large expenditures 
which farmers have to make for expensive machinery, 
most of which is idle for eleven months in the 
year. 

The theory that farm machinery can be owned co- 
operatively and used cooperatively often breaks down 
in practice. There are many difficulties, but there 
is not the slightest doubt that greater efficiency 



1 5 o THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

could be gained if communities of farmers would 
plan together for the most effective use of ma- 
chinery. It is very likely true that one farm 
tractor will do all the work for a half a dozen farms. 
Certainly one threshing machine will do the work for 
many farms. It is not necessary that the community as 
a business corporation should own and control this ma- 
chinery, although even that is not merely a dream. But 
it can at the very least decide as a community that it 
will economize in farm machinery, and the community, 
as a unit, can make a contract with an individual to do 
the threshing of the community, or with several owners 
of tractors to do the plowing for the community. 
These things are actually being done here and there. 
They simply need to be organized, systematized, to get 
the greatest efficiency. 

Power. Farmers were using power generated by 
gasolene to an extent unbelievable a few years ago. In 
the future, the use of electricity upon the farm will 
prove one of the great gains that the years will bring. 
But it is doubtful whether the farmers can get electric 
power as cheaply or as generally as they ought to have 
it if they treat the matter purely as an individual con- 
cern. In some cases, power can be developed by com- 
munities; at the least the community as a unit can make 
far better contracts for power than any individual can 
make. 

Labor. The labor problem in the United States, 
serious before the war, has become acute. It will be 
one of the farmer's greatest difficulties for many years 
to come. The individual farmer will employ his own 
labor and manage it. Yet the labor supply for agri- 
culture will be more and more a matter of organization, 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 151 

of successful competition with other industries, and 
therefore it will have to be treated more and more as 
a community affair. There is no other way out. 

Accounts. It may appear rather chimerical to some, 
but we may find the community idea extremely success- 
ful in a field that at first seems to be purely a question 
for the individual farmer, namely, that of keeping 
accounts. Theoretically, every intelligent farmer be- 
lieves in the value of a good system of bookkeeping and 
accounting, but nine out of ten of these same intelligent 
farmers find it an extremely difficult thing to do. The 
time, the labor, the annoyance involved in any thorough 
system are almost prohibitive. Why not put accounts 
on a community basis? The community accountant 
might be an employee of a local bank or the business 
agent of the local cooperative system, or a farmer's 
daughter who has the training and the time. Rules 
safeguarding the privacy of accounts could easily be 
made. The farmer would turn in his slips of record 
and results would be tabulated and returned to him. 
When divided among a community of reasonably pros- 
perous farmers, this would not be at all an expensive 
affair. What is referred to here is not so much the 
routine business connected with buying and selling and 
paying bills — the private accounts — as it is that form 
of accounting which determines the profits or losses of 
the farm business as a whole or of any part of it. True 
accounting, as applied to farming, means a method by 
which the farmer can account for or understand what 
is actually happening to him as a business man. The 
principle is good everywhere and for all kinds of farm 
business. 



i 5 2 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA IN DISTRIBUTION 

It is not necessary to take so much space to discuss 
the community idea in distribution as it was in the case 
of production, because most farmers have the feeling 
that it is impossible to cooperate effectively in produc- 
tion, whereas they are fast learning not only that col- 
lective bargaining is essential to agricultural profit but 
that the local farmerc' exchange or cooperative society 
is the very core and center of successful business co- 
operation. This local group of farmers constituting 
the farmers' exchange is practically a community from 
the standpoint of business. 

Selling the Product. Efficiency in selling farm prod- 
ucts requires first of all a standardizing of goods. This 
is gained through some common high standard of 
quality, through the use of best varieties, proper grad- 
ing, and scientific, honest packing. Successful fruit 
growers often have individual trade marks, but the de- 
vice has been adopted by very few individual farmers. 
Each community that specializes in its products can have 
a trade mark, and a trade mark that is a guarantee of 
quality is worth more than any other single item in the 
sale of any commodity; but the great need is for col- 
lective bargaining in making sales. The old Kansas 
farmer who, as the story goes, held back his wheat in 
order to corner the market and bring a rise in price was 
just as successful as any other farmer who allows him- 
self to become, as an individual, a bargainer with a 
great organized market. It is not necessary to put the 
middlemen behind prison bars in order to get justice 
at this point; it is purely a matter of better business. 
A farmer with <;oo bushels of potatoes to sell certainly 
is at a disadvantage as compared with a community 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 153 

with 5,000 bushels. The buyer who can afford to dis- 
regard the individual with his small crop cannot ignore 
an entire community. He is willing to make terms 
with a community when he would browbeat the indi- 
vidual. 

The Core of Cooperation. At the risk of repeti- 
tion, let it be said once more that the local community 
is absolutely the only possible foundation for sound 
business cooperation in agriculture. One of the wisest 
and most successful leaders in business cooperation in 
this country says on this point: 

" It is fundamental that the unit of each agricultural indus- 
trial organization formed to distribute and sell farm crops or for 
other business purposes must lie in a comparatively small area. 
The members must be well acquainted with each other, their 
aims must be similar, and they must grow products of similar 
quality and character if they are to succeed when associated with 
one another. It is equally important that the membership be a 
stable one and that the farm lands are not frequently changing 
hands, a condition which often operates against the success of 
the cooperative movement in the newer sections of the country. 
If the products vary widely on account of differences in the soil, 
in climate, or other environmental conditions, the grades are not 
uniform and the producers cannot easily be held in a common 
organization. The efforts that are frequently made to have a 
single organization cover a wide territory are, therefore, not 
likely to succeed. It is desirable from every point of view that 
each rural community and each individual should retain its in- 
dividuality to the greatest possible extent, that it should not 
have local pride and ambition stifled by too general a mixture 
with other sections, and that it should be encouraged to build 
up a local reputation for its products that distinguishes it from 
other communities." x 

1 Powell, G. Harold, " Cooperation in Agriculture," pages 19-20, 
New York, 1913. 



i 5 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

All the European experiences in a dozen countries 
for nearly half a century of successful business coopera- 
tion are a demonstration of the same fundamental prac- 
tices. That is the rock on which the early efforts at 
business cooperation in America foundered, and unfor- 
tunately many enthusiastic and right-minded friends of 
the farmer and even farmers themselves, still have the 
vision of a great comprehensive scheme of business 
cooperation by which thousands of farmers, acting as 
a unit, can by the very pressure of numbers and power, 
make successful bargains. Every such effort breaks 
down of its own weight unless it is founded upon a mul- 
titude of little pillars, each pillar a solid block consist- 
ing of a well managed local unit. 

Some W ell-known Illustrations. We ought to learn 
our lesson from the varied experiences of many institu- 
tions. Probably there is not a leader of the Grange or 
Farmers' Union leader in America who does not admit 
that the local is the strength of the organization. All 
overhead machinery in the form of county or state or 
national organizations is an attempt to conserve and 
strengthen local effort. All cooperative power springs 
from the local organization and flows back to it. The 
same is true of the country church, of the country school. 
The strength of these institutions is to be found in the 
local church or in the local school. We may have a 
great church organization or a great rural school sys- 
tem, but it is a rope of sand, in either case, except it be 
composed of successful local efforts. We need the 
federation or union of locals for the sake of large poli- 
cies and unity of endeavor, but the actual work is al- 
ways done by the local. 

Community Industries. This idea may be also ap- 
plied to local industries. There are many farming 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 155 

communities, especially those containing villages, which 
should be closely knit with the farming region, and 
which would be greatly advantaged through the de- 
velopment of certain local industries. It is not un- 
thinkable that the labor supply in some regions may be 
secured through the development of such industries as 
electric power, employing labor which will be available 
for the farmers during the summer. Certain small 
manufactories use up the surplus or otherwise waste 
products of the neighboring farmers and thus are an 
advantage to everybody. But these things have to be 
planned for and, as a rule, this will be done only when 
the community as a whole takes action. 

Rural Credit. Credit may be made largely a com- 
munity affair instead of merely an individual matter. 
Probably the one outstanding fact gathered by the 
American Commission which went to Europe in 19 13 
to study agricultural credit and cooperation, was ex- 
pressed by the former Premier of Italy, Luzzatti, when 
he said: " We have capitalized character." That is, 
a community of farmers of very moderate means, if 
they know one another and are willing to back one an- 
other, can borrow a great deal more money and on far 
better terms if they act together, than the different in- 
dividuals in that community can do if each acts alone. 
There is an irrigated valley in the West in which the 
farmers own property probably worth ten million dol- 
lars. Yet each individual is obliged to borrow money 
on the best terms he can get as an individual. The 
farmers of this valley are really or may become prac- 
tically a unit, a corporation. As such, they should be 
able to borrow strictly in accordance with good busi- 
ness terms all the money they need for improvements 
or for making the crops. They can do it only as they 



156 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

form a real community. They must act together to 
the last man. They must be willing to pool their busi- 
ness interests, to take some business risks together. 
Probably American farmers will be rather slow in ap- 
plying this principle but it is fundamental, nevertheless, 
and lies at the foundation of a permanent system of 
rural credit, which in turn is almost essential to a 
permanent agriculture. 

SOME OTHER APPLICATIONS OF THE COMMUNITY IDEA 

The farm community may produce its own supplies 
to a considerable degree. It may partially feed itself. 
It may build its own houses, make its own furniture, 
have its own laundry, can or preserve its own surplus 
fruit, produce its own butter, meat, eggs and poultry, 
bake its own bread; it may even do its own sewing! 
Now the question whether the community will do these 
things or not is purely one of economy. If it is cheaper 
to buy outside of the community that should be done, 
if it is cheaper to manufacture and buy within the com- 
munity, that should be done. The whole idea is 
what is best for the community, and whether a 
group of five hundred or a thousand people will 
choose to do its own business. A community can de- 
termine whether it is properly served by its mer- 
chants and its blacksmiths. Why should not a 
community decide on service of this sort as well as on 
its school teacher or its preacher or its political agents? 
Some industrial communities have a community physi- 
cian; why not a rural community? The household ac- 
tivities may sometimes yield themselves to the coopera- 
tive idea. A community kitchen has been maintained 
in Montclair, N. J., for some years. Would it be prac- 
ticable in a farm village? Three or four cooperative 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 157 

laundries have been in operation in Minnesota and 
Wisconsin long enough to prove the feasibility of the 
plan. 

COMMUNITY PROTECTION 

Nor have we yet exhausted the possibilities of the 
community idea. We still, to a considerable extent, 
leave the individual farmer to protect himself against 
unfavorable conditions. He fights his own potato bugs 
and tries to defend himself against the blight. But 
effective protection is almost wholly a community af- 
fair. Not many years ago, a law was passed in some 
western states compelling farmers to spray against cer- 
tain diseases, and why? Simply because the failure of 
a single farmer to combat a pestiferous insect or a con- 
tagious disease of his trees made him a menace to all 
his neighbors. The whole thing becomes a community 
affair. The spread of weeds is very serious in some 
regions. It is possible because we still treat the mat- 
ter as a concern of the individual firmer. But the in- 
jury falls upon the entire community of farmers. A 
noxious weed law in Wisconsin requires that every 
property owner destroy certain weeds if found on his 
land. 

THE COMMUNITY IDEA APPLIED TO COUNTRY LIFE 

The Education of the Rural People. The school is 
perhaps more completely a community institution than 
any other agency of rural endeavor. For decades, and 
in some parts of the country for generations, its main- 
tenance has been a community charge. Every family 
has participated in the cost and every family has felt 
free to participate in the advantages of the school. 
But the rural school has failed thus far to measure up 
to its full capacity as an educational institution, both 



158 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

in its point of view in the teaching of pupils and in the 
narrow range of its influence upon adults. John and 
Mary have been treated as individuals; the instruction 
has had comparatively little regard to the relationship 
of John and Mary to other folks, and yet it is the rela- 
tions of life that constitute its problems. Teaching 
the pupil to think is good, but to think about what? 
Himself? His own interests alone? Or his obliga- 
tions to other people, the common good and interest? 
It is well for the school to give knowledge, but what 
sort of knowledge? The knowledge that has to do 
only with profit and loss? Shall the school not seek to 
impart a love of the beautiful in literature and art? 
Shall it not also give the knowledge of what races and 
nations and communities have done and are doing and 
want to do? Moreover the average citizen has never 
thought of the school as intended for any one except 
children. It took a long while to persuade our people 
that the high school should be maintained at public ex- 
pense. In some parts of our country to-day, there is 
no public opinion in favor of the publicly supported 
college or university. So when we begin to talk about 
the relation of the school to the adult people of a rural 
community, we are not understood, and it is doubtful 
if the old-fashioned district school with its meager 
equipment, its one room, its poorly paid teacher, can 
do very much for the adults of the community. But 
a consolidated school, with several teachers, a properly 
trained principal interested in rural affairs and remain- 
ing in the community until his leadership is proved, a 
school house with an audience room that will seat the 
people of the community — give us these and then we 
begin to see what the school may do for the adults. 
And what may it not do? Our idea of the education 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 159 

of the rural people (and this is just as true of people 
in the city) is that they shall be perpetually at school. 
Our aim should be nothing less than a scheme of educa- 
tion, centering in the rural school, utilizing all of the 
organizations and agencies of education whose aid can 
be secured, even after school days, to keep on studying 
and reading and thinking about the problems of their 
community and of the world. This vital application 
of the community idea to the education of the rural 
people is of the utmost importance. 

The Home. How can the community idea best be 
applied to the home? In spite of the fact that the 
home is so personal an affair and must retain its privacy, 
no home is a true home until it has developed a proper 
relation to the community. No family can live unto 
itself. The ideal community is a group of families 
that form one big family. In the ideal home we have 
the divers interests and capacities and tastes of each 
member of a family of two or a dozen, as the case 
may be, all merging into a common interest. So in the 
ideal community, we have the tastes and ambitions and 
interests and capacities of all the members of the com- 
munity merged into a common interest and ambition. 
In the home perhaps better than anywhere else can be 
taught just these ideals. Indeed if they are not taught 
and practiced in the home, they will make slow head- 
way in the community. So that the application of the 
community idea to the home becomes one of the great 
ideals of our rural life. 

The Church. The country church has had a won- 
derful history and has done a wonderful work. In 
the pioneer days it saved our American country life 
from sordidness and materialism. The preacher and 
the pioneer farmer went west together and together 



160 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

they endured the hardships of that early life. Never- 
theless, the local country church to-day usually regards 
itself as an end in itself. If you belong to the church, 
well and good; if you don't, well and worse — from the 
church point of view. Those in the church are saints; 
those without are sinners. The success of the church 
is measured quite largely by the number of its members 
and the hum of its machinery. But every now and then 
we find a country pastor or a country congregation that 
has torn itself away from any such restricted notion as 
this, and has come to understand what Jesus meant 
when he remarked: "He that loseth his life, shall 
find it," and that he referred to groups of Christians 
as well as to the individual Christian. In other words, 
when the church thinks chiefly of itself, it grows weak 
and ineffective. When it thinks chiefly of becoming a 
pathway to glory to all within its fold, it shrivels. But 
when it becomes a ministering agency of friendliness 
and neighborliness and good will to the entire com- 
munity, then it lives and grows and vitalizes the spirits 
of men. It is not putting the matter too strongly to 
say that the country church will regain its leadership in 
rural affairs only when it applies the community idea to 
its motives and methods. 

The Health of the Community. Health should be 
regarded as decidedly a community asset. It is always 
the individual who is ill, and so the knowledge of home 
care, food and home nursing should be more wide- 
spread. But disease really affects the whole commun- 
ity. It reduces the working power of the community 
through loss of time and money. The untimely re- 
moval by death of a strong member of the community 
produces a loss that the community may never get over. 
So the teaching of personal hygiene as a part of com- 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 161 

munity education, methods of prevention, the futility 
of most patent medicines, are all matters of importance. 
But they are best taught on a community basis, so that 
they become a part of the common knowledge of the 
community. In the preventing of the spread of com- 
municable diseases, the community idea is absolutely 
essential, because public opinion must be brought to a 
point where it will acquiesce in health regulations and 
indeed insist that individuals comply with them. There 
ought to be in every rural community health study clubs 
or rural health leagues. There should be a health 
program for the community. Unhealthful places 
should be cleaned up, a public nurse should be provided. 
Wherever possible there should be a health center and 
a public clinic. The time is not far distant when com- 
munities may be expected to employ their own physi- 
cian who will be a preventer rather than a curer of 
disease. In more populous rural communities, espe- 
cially with the village at the center, community baths 
are not without the possibilities. The community hos- 
pital, or at least a hospital service for a group of com- 
munities, will soon become an essential in country life. 

The Community at Play. Farmers desire recreation 
just as much as other people and enjoy it just as much, 
and in the better farming communities there is a vast 
deal of wholesome recreation for both the old and the 
young. But every investigation that has ever been 
made on this subject has revealed the fact that as a 
whole, farmers actually do not play enough. Recrea- 
tion is a social affair. It is impossible to play alone. 
It is difficult to get very much recreation any great dis- 
tance away from home. Thus the play of the children 
and the social life of the older people become very dis- 
tinctively a community affair. How can play better be 



162 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

developed in the rural community? For the young- 
sters the school is the natural center of play life, partly 
because that is where children are and partly because 
the right sort of play is good education. Some boys 
and girls learn as much through games as they do in 
school. The Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., the 
Sunday school, the Boy Scouts and the Camp Fire Girls 
all have possibilities in developing play that is organ- 
ized and yet not artificial. In the small or scattered 
rural communities, it is difficult to maintain an adequate 
play life for the youth who have perhaps left school 
and have not yet joined their elders' socials. Perhaps 
the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., working in the 
country districts as they do, are more likely to work 
out this problem successfully than any other institution. 
But these agencies work on a community basis; they 
bring together the young people of the larger neighbor- 
hoods. They do not deal very much with the indi- 
vidual alone, on the one hand, nor with big scattered 
groups on the other. For the older people, the church 
and the Grange or similar organizations make an out- 
let. The chief difficulties are not so much in agencies 
as in difficulties of getting together. It is here, of 
course, that good roads have a part in the right sort of 
community life. The community should make recrea- 
tion a part of its program — community picnics and 
sociables; the keeping of holidays and celebrations by 
the entire community; the community paper; the com- 
munity drama, developing the theatrical talent of the 
community; community musicals, the natural inheritor 
of the traditions of the old singing schools; community 
excursions to the state agricultural college of the nearby 
city or the state fair; the community motion pictures or 
at least community oversight of the motion pictures; 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA 163 

the entertainment course, adapted to all the people of 
the community; community sport or play days for old 
and young; inter-community contests of various sorts, 
athletic and intellectual; how much richer life will be 
wherever a community decides to have such a program 
of recreation. 

The Community Beautiful. Nature has done her 
part for the country. Unfortunately man has often 
done his part to spoil it all. Straight highways, square 
corners, the absence of shade trees, unsightly weeds, un- 
kempt door yards, box-like houses are altogether too 
common in our American country life. It is possible 
without great expense to develop a set of beautiful com- 
munities in the country side. We need a rural archi- 
tecture, simple but charming. We may locate farm 
buildings so as to render the plant both convenient and 
attractive. The use of fruit trees as well as of shade 
trees in the highways; the development of parklets or 
squares in the country villages after the fashion of the 
old New England village common; the proper location, 
architecture and landscape surroundings of such build- 
ings as the school, the church, the Grange hall, the town 
hall, the library and the community house are possibili- 
ties within the reach of multitudes of farmers, once 
public opinion of the community insists upon it. If 
these things cost a great deal of money, perhaps they 
might not be so strongly urged, but it is largely a mat- 
ter of community enterprise and education and in- 
sistence. There are plenty of farmers and farmers' 
wives who want these things, but they have to treat 
them as individual matters. They must now set the 
community to work to get them. 

The Socializing of Rural Morality. What is meant 
by this? Simply that we can no longer consider the 



1 64 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

wrong doing of an individual as merely his own affair. 
A bad man is a plague spot in a community. Thou- 
sands of men would almost give their right arms if 
they could have avoided in youth certain contacts with 
men who were not clean. We have been too tolerant 
of sin and too intolerant of the sinner. We must re- 
verse our scales and contend the evil by extending a 
friendly hand to the repentant. But what can be done 
in the rural community ? Well, if every wrong were to 
become a community affair, it would be easier to en- 
force the law. At present, it is difficult to enforce law 
in the rural community because enforcement is such a 
personal affair between people who know one another. 
But once public opinion demands right doing and the 
officer of the law knows that he is representative not 
of his own authority, but of the community, he will be 
obeyed. Then too Tightness can be made a fundamen- 
tal article in community program. Unify the religious 
and moral forces that abide in the church, the Sunday 
school and the rural Y. M. C. A. into a combination of 
high ideals and practices. Lay the foundations for 
good morals by clean sport for the young and healthy 
recreation for the older ones. Make morality red- 
blooded. Banish the long-faced preacher and elect no 
man a church deacon unless the boys in the church nom- 
inate him. Hold aloft the ideal of a righteous com- 
munity. The life of the rural people is the most im- 
portant part of the rural problem. Therefore it ought 
to be the concern of every rural community to see that 
in education, in home life, in church life, in health and 
recreation, in beauty and convenience and morality, 
high ideals are maintained and practiced and continu- 
ous steps taken to build up the sort of life that the best 
people at all times and all people in their best moments 
acknowledge as half of the great end of living. 



CHAPTER X 
ORGANIZING THE RURAL COMMUNITY 

THE OBJECT 

The main object of organizing the rural community is 
to try to secure the cooperation of all associated effort 
and individual influence on behalf of a generally ac- 
cepted plan or program for improving the community 
at all points. By reason of such cooperative endeavor, 
should emerge at last a group of people with one mind 
as to the desirability of working together for one large 
purpose and in the finest spirit of cooperation. Re- 
member again that organization is merely the coopera- 
tion of all the people. It is an assembling of all fac- 
tors that make for better working and living together. 
It implies a group of people working as one. The 
ideal is the most complete possible cooperation of all 
individuals and all groups in a small natural area, mak- 
ing their best efforts in the common task of securing 
the greatest possible improvement in all things that 
make for the common good. 

THE FIRST STEPS 

There must be some new " machinery " for the pur- 
pose of this organization, otherwise it is difficult to 
draw out leadership in community enterprises. But 
few communities need a new organization. Indeed, 
what is wanted is not an organization at all in the usual 
meaning of the word, but rather a clearing house for 

165 



i66 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

existing associated effort, a " round table " on the best 
ways of developing the best interests of the community 
and how each agency and each individual can best help. 
The start may be made by any person or any group of 
persons that is so minded — the Grange or master of 
the Grange, the school superintendent, the church or 
the pastor of the church, the farm bureau or the farm- 
ers' club. It makes little difference what particular 
form of organization shall be developed. 

It is, of course, necessary that at the outset there 
should be meetings of citizens to discuss the question of 
community organization. The whole matter should be 
carefully explained by some one who really knows about 
it, so that the community idea may be perfectly clear 
at the outset. Beyond that, no hard and fast method 
of organization need be urged. Experience has shown, 
however, that there are some plans worth adopting if 
best results are expected. They comprise the follow- 
ing and each will be discussed briefly: 
i. The Community Council. 

2. Gaining the Facts. 

3. The Community Program. 

4. The Community Meeting. 

5. The Community Center. 

6. The Community Goal. 

THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL THE ONE ESSENTIAL 

It is practically impossible to build a true com- 
munity and develop its activities fully without some sort 
of central group which in some way represents the en- 
tire community and all its interests. The name applied 
to this group does not matter; it may be called a com- 
munity committee, a community group, a community 
federation, or what not. " Community council " is a 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 167 

term that seems best to convey the complete purpose 
and task of this central group. No one club or asso- 
ciation or institution can do all the work that needs 
doing in a community, nor can it possibly represent the 
entire community. Whether there are two agencies 
or twenty in a community, there is the same need that 
they shall cooperate for the common interests of the 
community. 

The Make-Up of the Council. There are two prin- 
ciples applying to the organization of a community 
council. It is desirable that each agency in the com- 
munity shall be officially represented, the Grange or 
Farmers' Union, the farmers' club, each church, the 
school, the woman's club, even the fraternal organiza- 
tions may be admitted. It must be understood that 
what we are seeking is to " speed up " or increase the 
efficiency of the work of each existing agency, not to 
deprive it of its work. Consequently each should play 
a part in the general plan. That is just what com- 
munity organization means — to bring together exist- 
ing forces, not to make a new machine. If there are 
not very many agencies in the community, a council 
having half a dozen to fifteen members will represent 
them all very well; if there happens to be a larger 
number, then the council may be larger. The other 
principle is to make sure to have in the council the 
natural leaders in the community. These leaders may 
not always be officials in the different agencies nor the 
chosen representatives of those agencies. So it does 
very well to add to the council from three to five mem- 
bers at large. It is well to have a constitution and 
by-laws, models for which can be obtained as a rule 
from the extension service of the state agricultural col- 
lege. 



168 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Committees of the Council. There are four com- 
mittees that seem to be necessary in order to cover the 
main interests of a community, as follows: 
i. On production. 

2. On marketing and other businers interests. 

3. On conservation. 

4. On community life. 

But there may be as many sub-committees as there are 
problems, covering such interests as good roads, farm- 
ers' exchanges, recreation, education, community plan- 
ning, health and sanitation, local government and so on. 
The Activities of the Council. The task of the 
council is to confer, not to direct or manage. It should 
consider such questions as these: 

1. A community study. 

2. A community program. 

3. The work of each agency in carrying out the 
program. 

4. Community meetings and conferences relative 
to the program and its progress. 

5. The need of new association. 

6. Bringing the community into touch with other 
communities and with county, state and na- 
tional activities. 

The Community Secretary. It is desirable to have 
a community secretary. The ideal, possibly, would be 
the employment of a person who could give full time 
to the interests of the community. But this is hardly 
possible in most rural communities, and there are, no 
doubt, certain advantages in having not a professional 
community manager but a voluntary worker who gives 
freely of his time and energy and thought. This of- 
ficial would probably be the secretary of the council, 
chosen by it to serve as its executive agent. Choice 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 169 

may fall upon the master or the lecturer of the Grange, 
upon the pastor of the church, upon the superintendent 
of schools or the principal of the consolidated school, 
or upon the person who teaches agriculture in the 
school. The community secretary becomes a sort of 
community engineer. He studies the needs of the com- 
munity and what other communities are doing. He 
brings these needs to the attention of the council. He 
endeavors to see that the different agencies are carry- 
ing out their program, tries to discover whether the 
program is working. He puts fuel under the boilers. 
He would naturally represent the council at county and 
state conferences. Here is literally a new profession 
opening up in country communities. But let us not be 
alarmed at the extent of his duties. There is not a 
farming area in America which has not some one in it 
who already does many of these things. We need to 
systematize and organize more fully and to be more 
definite in our purposes and plans. This community 
secretary will be a tower of strength in accomplishing 
results. 

Community "Pace Makers." We are indebted to 
Minnesota for suggesting a unique phase of local com- 
munity leadership. Not only do we want a community 
secretary, but we want some one in the community, 
chosen by the community, who is the recognized leader 
in some one field and who will take the responsibility 
for endeavoring to push that interest in the community. 
One man may be a corn expert, another an apple ex- 
pert, another a stock breeder, another especially in- 
terested in schools and education. There will be, of 
course, women pace makers for household manage- 
ment, child training, home decoration and so on. 
There should be as many pace makers as there are 



170 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

problems. Each one will make a study of the question, 
keep abreast the times, confer with specialists, read 
and study and lead discussion clubs on his particular 
subject and in all possible ways endeavor to lead the 
community to maximum improvement. 

The Community Council a Planning, not an Achiev- 
ing, Body. There is always a temptation when we get 
a new type of organization to judge the results wholly 
by the activities and achievements of the organization. 
So the community council will be tempted " to do some- 
thing " in order to justify its existence. But to do 
something is not the job of the council. Its task is to 
get others to do the right thing in the best way for the 
interests of the whole community. It plans but it does 
not execute. It secures team work. In some cases, it 
may be necessary for the council or one of its commit- 
tee to supervise a definite piece of work, but it ought 
never to do this as long as there is some other agency 
that can do it. We may be sure that a community 
council will have plenty to do in keeping the community 
idea alive and growing and in seeing that the com- 
munity program forges ahead. 

The Community Council Independent. A commun- 
ity council would be an absolute failure if it were the 
property of any local organization or of any farm 
bureau or of any school system or of any agricultural 
college or of any other overhead agency. It is the 
property of the community, appointed by the entire 
community, responsible only to the community. Of 
course the council should cooperate with all agencies 
outside of the community that can really help, but it 
cannot be managed by a county council, a state council 
or any other body. It is the free agent of a free com- 
munity. 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 171 



GAINING THE FACTS 

Before a community can make a plan, it must know 
the facts about itself. What are the needs of the com- 
munity? What are the best things that exist in the 
community? What are its resources, natural and hu- 
man? What are the possibilities of the community? 
So we need first of all: 

A Community Inventory. The community inven- 
tory is just a little self study by the community itself. 
It brings together in orderly form the knowledge and 
the insight of the people themselves about themselves. 
The modern farmer who buys a new farm considers it 
essential to have a definite plan of development and 
of management. But he knows that a prerequisite to 
the information of that plan is knowledge — knowl- 
edge of the farm and of the market, of the type of 
soil, the history of the farm, the climate, the roads. 
All these are factors in determining his plan. He must 
know his farm. So if a farming community decides to 
make itself the best possible community, the prerequi- 
site is knowledge — it must know itself. What are 
the natural resources of the community; how have the 
resources been used; what are the possibilities of im- 
provement? Is the farm life all it ought to be? 
Wherein is it strong and wherein deficient? It is not 
necessary to presuppose that the community inventory 
means the existence of a " sick " neighborhood. 
Knowledge is indispensable to efficiency, and desire for 
greater efficiency is no sign of decrepitude. The de- 
sire of the farmers in any neighborhood to study them- 
selves, as a starting point for developing a better com- 
munity, is an indication, not of decadence, but of vi- 
tality. Only the " live " man desires to improve. 



172 THE FARMER AND THE NEW. DAY 

Only the community with life enough within it to pos- 
sess a " divine discontent " with present conditions, no 
matter how good they may be, is the community in 
which one likes to reside. 

The Community Study. It may be worth while to 
ask the farm bureau or agricultural college to send 
specialists into the community for the purpose of help- 
ing to map out a community program by studying rather 
fully the resources, needs and possibilities of the com- 
munity. If each community would do this, after a 
time it would have a program covering all aspects of 
community improvement based on full knowledge of 
conditions. This is the ideal. Such a study would do 
more than reveal conditions. It would inspire prog- 
ress. Live people do not need much preaching. 
Their best inspiration to improvement is a vision of 
needs. Once a good farming community realized its 
deficiencies as well as its resources, it would insist upon 
a plan for improvement. Community study leads at 
once to community-consciousness, a community pro- 
gram and community effort. 

THE COMMUNITY PROGRAM 

When a community knows the main facts about itself, 
it will develop a community policy and a community 
program. The possession of a policy simply means 
that the people of the community have decided the 
direction in which and where they want to go; the 
program consists of the successive steps that must be 
taken in order to arrive. The community program 
covers the whole field of the community problem, what 
improvements are desirable and how they can be 
brought about in farm production and management, in 
farm business, and in community life. The program 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 173 

will be based on the community inventory, supple- 
mented later by the fuller expert study. The program 
lays down the practical steps necessary in order to 
carry out the aims or policy of the community. It 
will deal with the steps necessary to make what might 
be called the ideal community, but it will be very prac- 
tical and take up even minor matters of reform. The 
program must grow out of a cooperative agreement 
adopted by the committees of the council, by the coun- 
cil itself, and finally accepted by the community at a 
conference. 

The council will assign tasks to the different agencies. 
Existing institutions must do the work if they can, but 
new agencies must be developed if they are necessary. 
If possible, needless agencies will be eliminated. 
There will be also a checking-up of results through 
frequent reports of the different agencies and from the 
committees of the council. It is important to develop 
and maintain study clubs or groups perhaps of only 
three or four people, and it may be of 25 or 30, each 
group to take up some local problem and study it in 
the light of general principles and of outside move- 
ments, and particularly its application to the commun- 
ity. Here is the chance for the " pace makers " and 
here is the chance, too, for the local school, as well as 
for the extension service of the agricultural college. 
The work of the farm bureaus and of the extension 
service of the college, indeed the work of all educa- 
tional agencies, should fit in with the program and need 
of the particular community. All educational ma- 
chinery should be geared to the policy and needs of 
the community. 

The community program is designed as much to 
arouse community will as for anything else. Hereto- 



i 7 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

fore, in seeking community improvement, we have been 
content with the scattered efforts of various agencies. 
Now what we want is to have the community as a whole 
act and plan for itself. But it cannot do this unless it 
has the will to do it and to keep at it. A plan that 
everybody can understand and discuss and have a part 
in, helps to develop and strengthen the community will. 

THE COMMUNITY MEETING 

The New England town meeting is the most demo- 
cratic institution of the American government, because 
it calls together the people of the community to talk 
over their common interests. In the old days, it was 
decidedly a community meeting because it dealt with 
all of the interests of the people. Gradually, it be- 
came purely a political or governmental meeting and 
so is restricted in its operations. It deals only with 
those affairs for which public money is to be expended. 
But we need everywhere frequent community meetings 
for the discussion of all these common needs and pur- 
poses of the community. 

Regular Meetings. Community meetings should be 
held regularly at least four times a year, or better, once 
a month; perhaps in some communities during a part 
of the year they could be held as often as once a week; 
but it is vital to bring the people of the community 
together rather frequently to confer about their com- 
mon welfare. 

Definite Objects. There is little good in meetings 
of a general character, certainly no good at all in meet- 
ings for the sake of a meeting. There must be some- 
thing worth while to discuss, such as the big problem 
of community organization; the items in the community 
program; reports of progress in the community pro- 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 175 

gram; reviewing the program from time to time; and 
finally subjects of general interest. This last need 
leads us to recommend: 

The Community Forum. The community forum is 
the gathering of the people of the community to listen 
to and question a speaker who is supposed to have a 
message about a matter of national or world-wide im- 
portance. The forum takes the place of the old coun- 
try lyceum. It is not a lecture club in which the orator 
is expected or obliged to amuse or please the audience. 
It is a discussion. There must be question and answer. 
It is a great school of democracy when properly 
handled. It can be developed as a part of a com- 
munity council, although there is a recognized forum 
organization in existence. In the country districts, 
however, we do not want to multiply machinery, and 
there is no good reason why the community council 
could not make the community forum a regular part of 
its service to the community. 

The Community Conference. The community con- 
ference is simply one form of the community meeting 
and in smaller communities will not be needed. 
Ideally, the community meeting is a meeting where ab- 
solutely everybody in the community comes to discuss 
community problems; but in the well organized and 
larger community, there is need for real and frequent 
conferences of a comparatively small group concerning 
fundamental plans — meetings where a long look is 
taken into the future and possibly where experts or spe- 
cialists are called in to assist. Conferences will usually 
be on specific improvements such as roads, health, dis- 
posal of sewage, a farmers' exchange, community 
breeding, etc. 

The Community Extension School. In many states 



176 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the agricultural colleges and farm bureaus cooperating 
hold extension schools lasting perhaps three or four 
days. These have been warmly supported by the farm- 
ers as a rule. There ought to be in each community 
each year a school in which teaching should be done 
by specialists — not necessarily all of them college 
men and women — but real specialists who can really 
teach the farmers something. But this school should 
have for its subject matter those fields of thought that 
have a bearing upon the problems and programs of the 
community. In other words, the extension school 
should tie up with the most pressing needs of the com- 
munity and should throw light upon how the needs 
can be met. 

THE COMMUNITY CENTER 

There has been a good deal of discussion during the 
past twenty years concerning the establishment of a 
community center. Very recently the community cen- 
ter movement has swept the country and is being pushed 
not only in cities but in rural districts. What does all 
this mean and how important is it? Various plans 
have been suggested from time to time and each has its 
advocates. 

The Church as a Community Center. For some 
years there was considerable advocacy of the idea of 
making the church the rural neighborhood center. It 
is perfectly practicable to make any one church a center 
for many community activities. No doubt that is de- 
sirable in many cases; but wherever there is more than 
one church in a community, the plan for making the 
church a community center is barred from considera- 
tion. But suppose there is only one church — then is 
not the way clear for making that church a true com- 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 177 

munity center, the church building a true neighborhood 
house? Yes; the way is clear, and the plan is worth 
trying. But after all are the best results to the com- 
munity likely to accrue from dependence upon a single 
institution, no matter how strong and active? Is it, 
moreover, the real function of the church to furnish 
the complete machinery for all community activities? 
Is not the task of the church to infuse the spirit and 
motive into the activities of all individual and collective 
life rather than to embody the tangible expression of 
those activities? 

The School as a Community Center. How about 
the school as a community center? In case of the 
small district school, the limitations of the building are 
such that its use for general purposes by adults is not 
practicable. It is too small, the seats are not made for 
adults. Of course it may serve after a fashion for 
community gatherings. But if it is to be a community 
center, it needs additions that make it virtually a neigh- 
borhood house. Suppose however we are about to 
erect a new schoolhouse which is to be the only school 
building in the community. Suppose this is to be a 
real country-life school. Why not make the building 
also a neighborhood house and the real community 
center? Fine! But the question would arise whether 
we have built a schoolhouse or a neighborhood house. 
The suggestion comes at once, why not incorporate the 
schoolhouse in the neighborhood house? This may 
often prove wholly practicable and, if practicable, both 
economical and desirable — economical because it 
saves one building, desirable because it brings the school 
life and work into natural harmony with the community 
activities. The weakness of advocating the school as 
a community center lies in the fact that this is prac- 



178 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

ticable in only a few communities, at least for some time 
to come, and further in the danger of providing in- 
adequately for activities if the needs of the building 
for school use are the first consideration. 

The Community House. There are places here and 
there, and probably a good many of them in the aggre- 
gate, which have actually established community or 
neighborhood houses equipped for all community uses, 
where people may foregather perhaps chiefly for recre- 
ation, but also for other purposes. A community 
house is usually the center of the recreational life of 
the neighborhood or community, both for old and 
young. 

The Town Hall. The town hall has not much util- 
ity outside of New England, but is worth mentioning 
because in that region it often is by all odds the best 
natural community center so far as the building is con- 
cerned. 

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE COMMUNITY CENTER IDEA 

Let us not commit ourselves to the idea that the com- 
munity will find any one building or institution desir- 
able for all its purposes. In many cases, undoubtedly 
the consolidated school, for example, is the best place 
for a community center. But there is something be- 
hind the community center notion bigger than any 
particular building or institution. Instead, we may 
find that it is not a building we want but a group of 
buildings, preferably, though not necessarily, grouped 
in the geographical center of the community, each 
building embodying some large general interest. Let 
us illustrate : 

i. The Farmers' Exchange. It would be well if 
each farming community had headquarters for all its 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 179 

business interests, where the buying and selling of 
products could be carried on, and which would also 
contain a meeting place for the farmers to discuss 
their business problems. Where the Grange exercises 
a real leadership in the community, it is quite possible 
the Grange hall could be used for this purpose; al- 
though as a rule the farmers' exchange must be at some 
center where the farmers' business is actually carried on. 

2. The Schoolhouse. The schoolhouse surely 
ought to be the center, at least, of all the educational 
and cultural interests of the community. The consoli- 
dated school lends itself to this work most admirably 
and this is one of the main reasons why consolidated 
schools ought to be advocated. Such a school may 
house the community library, which unfortunately is 
poorly developed in most farming communities. The 
schoolhouse is the natural meeting place for study 
clubs, for lecture courses, and for the community for- 
ums; for extension schools and continuation schools; 
for museums and educational exhibits. The commun- 
ity should keep itself at school and the school should 
serve always the educational interests of old as well 
as young. 

3. The Community House. The community also 
needs a sociable center, that is, a place where there will 
be no cliques, but where all the people of the community 
can meet for common recreation and sociable inter- 
course. The community house is most helpful in de- 
veloping this side of community life. It is virtually 
a farmers' clubhouse. If the school does not furnish 
a playground for youngsters, perhaps such a field could 
be connected with the community house. At any rate, 
there should be games, a motion picture equipment, 
a stage for theatricals and musicals, a piano — frankly, 



180 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

we want to develop an amusement hall owned and man- 
aged by the community. 

4. The Church. The church ought to be the natural 
and recognized center of the great ideals and the spir- 
itual refreshments of life. It is the supreme place for 
considering the Tightness rather than the expediency of 
action. A church, of course, must be a friendly place 
because friendship is the most religious thing in the 
world. But perhaps it ought to be less of a social club 
and more of a community school of practical religion 
than it has ever been before. Certainly teaching and 
discussion of community affairs and of world-wide af- 
fairs from the religious point of view must be a large 
part of a successful church. The great fundamental 
purpose of the church as a community affair is to try to 
lead the people to discover, through conferences and 
worship and friendly, brotherly discussion, how the 
teachings of the great religious leaders, but primarily 
the teachings of Jesus himself can be applied in the 
daily work and life of the people of the community. 

Community Centers rather than a Community Cen- 
ter. Now this program may seem altogether too big 
for the average rural community, but if we stop to 
think about it, it is not so serious as it seems. First, 
a farmers 1 exchange or cooperative business organiza- 
tion wherever it is established, must have headquarters. 
Make these headquarters the rallying point of all the 
business interests of a community and you establish 
at once an economic center of the community. Every 
community has a school, perhaps several of them. 
Simply enlarge the work and functions of the school 
and build a schoolhouse adapted to these new func- 
tions. The modern consolidated school building ac- 
tually does this very thing and has just these uses. Not 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 181 

many communities have a neighborhood or community 
house, but every community has at least one church; 
so that in advocating this sort of program, we are 
really simply making use of existing buildings and 
agencies as community centers, except that we set the 
community house (which, by the way, may be some ex- 
isting building in the community) as something to 
strive for. 

Let us get firmly fixed the thought that the mere 
enthusiasm for a community center is not necessarily 
good in itself. What we want is something that brings 
the community together, that gives the community in- 
terests a hearthstone, as it were, a building which will 
be the concern and practical expression of community 
interests. We find at least four main interests in 
every community. 

The community working. 
The community learning. 
The community playing. 
The community worshiping. 

It would seem natural and fitting that each one of 
these interests should have its particular building or 
center. But if the people of the community think it 
desirable and experience proves that it is practicable, 
all of these interests can be brought together in one 
place. The question whether a community center shall 
be the schoolhouse or something else or several build- 
ings, is purely a practicable question for each commun- 
ity to settle. But the fundamental principle is that 
each of these main interests of the community shall 
have an abiding place, and shall " head up," as it were, 
in permanent headquarters. 



182 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



THE COMMUNITY GOAL 

Doubtless the reader, considering the plan of com- 
munity organization which has been suggested for the 
first time, will regard it as altogether too ambitious. 
But it is intended to serve as something to look for- 
ward to in those communities where a simple method 
of organization is the only one that is practicable for 
the present. A little study, however, of the plan as 
suggested will reveal the fact that the details simply 
illustrate general principles. The great thing is to 
have a farming community studying itself, planning 
ahead, acting as a unit. 

Each community can tell best how to do this. Each 
community should have an objective or goal somewhat 
as follows: 

i. Geographically, to map out a natural and con- 
venient area which permits all the people living within 
its boundaries to get together frequently. 

2. Economically, a program of the business of the 
community which is best adapted to secure the greatest 
efficiency in the use of the land and in methods. 

3. Socially, a group in which the people plan to- 
gether for self-study, for sociable life, for all forms of 
improvement. 

4. Politically, a group who, while they may not agree 
on national politics, are after all willing to study and 
discuss not only the measures that interest them locally, 
but the significant questions of the day. 

5. Spiritually, a community or group feeling and 
sentiment, cherishing the ambition to have all indi- 
viduals and agencies seeking their own best interests 
wholly in relation to the interests of the entire com- 
munity. 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 183 



THE COMMUNITY IDEA IN PRACTICE 

The idea of local community organization is not 
merely a theory. There are many instances running 
all through our agricultural history of entire communi- 
ties developing all their work and life as units. In 
more recent years almost spontaneously there have 
sprung up community breeding plans, enterprises, co- 
operative agencies on a community basis, and very re- 
cently hundreds of community groups have been or- 
ganized in many parts of the country. Just at present, 
the farm bureau movement is urged as a fundamental 
part of its program. 

THE COMMUNITY METHOD OF ORGANIZATION AND WORK 

The organization of an old, established community 
presents much greater difficulties than does a new com- 
munity where the plan can be formed and the com- 
munity adapted to it. The possibilities of both these 
methods may be seen by a comparison of two rather 
well known examples — Hardwick, Mass., and Dur- 
ham, Cal. 

Hardwick was one of the very early towns to give 
attention to organization and deserves notice because 
it has developed the plan further than many. It is an 
admirable instance of a rural community which has or- 
ganized on the lines laid down in this book, and an ex- 
perience of nearly six years has justified the plan; it is 
worthy of a much longer description than can be 
spared for its effort in these pages. It is a distinctively 
rural agricultural town with something over 100 farm- 
ers. It has, of course, the advantage of good local 
leaders. 

The local organizations came together for mutual 



i8 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

help and planning through a community council. A 
definite long-term plan of development was worked out 
by the community. A cooperative association was or- 
ganized among the farmers and has been of great 
value to the town. The volume of business done by 
the association increased from a little less than $10,000 
in 1914 to nearly $40,000 in 19 17. An orchard prun- 
ing and spraying campaign was undertaken. This 
reached most of the orchards in the town and the result 
was a new and lasting interest in fruit growing. The 
local demonstration farm became the center for poultry 
breeding stock, and a community breed was adopted. 
The dairy farmers have been interested in purebred 
cattle and the number owned in the town has been in- 
creased many fold, most farms carrying the same 
breed. Provision was made for carrying on club work 
among the boys and girls of the town, and canning 
clubs, home economics clubs, Boy Scouts and Camp- 
Fire Girls have been organized. A landscape archi- 
tect was secured to work out a plan for the develop- 
ment of the common, and this plan is being followed 
carefully. Various community celebrations have been 
held and a special community day offered an oppor- 
tunity for an exhibition of purebred dairy and poultry 
stock. 

Durham, Cal., is a community built from its incep- 
tion upon a definite plan. Established under Cali- 
fornia's land settlement act, provision is made by the 
state for all social and economic development of the 
community. Soil experts selected the location and de- 
termined the most desirable size of holding. Archi- 
tects prepared the plans and specifications for suitable 
homes, and the building projects were supervised by 
the state, relieving the individual settlers of that bur- 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 185 

den. Irrigation and drainage systems were established 
under the supervision of engineers. An agricultural 
superintendent was provided to whom the settlers bring 
their farm problems. The lots are sold to settlers on 
20 years' time and amortized payments at five per 
cent, interest on land and improvement. The state 
also supplements the capital of the settler, when neces- 
sary for the purchase of equipment. The state board 
administering the provisions of the land settlement act 
selected the settlers with the greatest care, the number 
of applicants greatly exceeding the number of farms. 

Allotments for farm laborers have also been made, 
suitable houses being planned with enough land for a 
garden, poultry and cow for each family. A stock 
breeders' association has been formed and this requires 
that the colony shall keep but one breed of dairy cattle, 
one breed of hogs and two breeds of sheep. Only 
purebred sires are to be used and these must be ap- 
proved by the association. 

A sufficient tract of land has been reserved for a 
community center for educational and recreational pur- 
poses. A movement already on foot looks to the es- 
tablishment here of a vocational training school in agri- 
culture. 

The success of this method of organization seems 
assured. Within less than a year after the holdings 
were offered for settlement 100 families were settled 
on the land and not one had failed to make payments 
to the state when due. 

THE COMMUNITY IDEA AND RURAL AGENCIES 

One of the profoundest results of applying the com- 
munity idea to local farm areas is the effect upon the 
local institutions, the school, the church, the Grange, 



186 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

even the home. To discuss these important matters 
thoroughly would require a book by itself; but a few 
suggestions may be made that indicate the extreme im- 
portance of the effort to inspire local institutions to 
become community building rather than self-serving 
agencies. 

The Rural Home and the Community. At first 
thought, it may seem as if the home, the most im- 
portant of our social institutions just because of its 
private and sacred character, might not fit into the 
community idea. But the home is the very fundamen- 
tal of the community spirit. It is the basis for real 
culture for both children and parents. It may train 
its members into the cooperative idea and help them ac- 
quire the habit of community service. It can cooper- 
ate with school, church and playlife. The home maker 
is not only the mistress of the home, but she partici- 
pates vitally in community building. Her influence in 
all community activities is pervasive and all important. 
Shall the home look outward to the community or only 
inward to its own limited interests? Shall the home 
be counted upon to foster the community spirit and 
practice community service? 

The School and the Rural Community. The school 
in the United States has always been a community affair 
in a certain sense since it is a public school. It is doubt- 
ful, however, if in actual achievement it has measured 
up to the community idea. The teaching in the school 
tends to be individual rather than social. It is thought 
of as fitting each particular child to make his way in 
the world. A true ideal for the school is that it shall 
be, as a school, a means of contributing to the highest 
development and best welfare of the community in 
which it is located. How can this be done? We 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 187 

must develop a real purpose, first of all, to make the 
school a community building institution. Each school 
in itself should be a sort of community. The school- 
house may be the center of many community enter- 
prises and interests. Wherever possible, it will be- 
come a community meeting place, a community forum, 
the entertainment center, but more than all, it is the 
educational agency of the entire community, not only 
for the children but for adults as well. We should 
cease to think of the school as merely a place for train- 
ing children. In a democracy, the people of the com- 
munity should always be in the process of being edu- 
cated. The public school can be almost as useful to 
adults as to children. In this way, it becomes a great 
community serving institution. 

The Farmers' Association. Some years ago in 
Massachusetts, the State Grange adopted the slogan 
that each subordinate Grange should try to be a com- 
munity building organization. That is, it was not to 
think of itself merely as seeking the interests of its 
members alone, but was to utilize the power of asso- 
ciated effort that arises through the Grange for the 
benefit of the entire community. This sound prin- 
ciple applies to all voluntary associations. It is legit- 
imate for groups of people to band themselves to- 
gether to advance their interests, but more and more 
the obligation comes to them to use these agencies for 
the benefit of all within their reach. 

A Community Serving Church. The country church 
should point the way toward the application of a re- 
ligious motive, both to character building and to com- 
munity building. It should explain how the Kingdom 
of God may come within and without. It should make 
clear the principle that the Kingdom never will come 



188 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

to the individual except through his work and his re- 
lations. It can come only in communities. Commun- 
ity building then becomes the prime task of the country 
church; through preaching and worship; through the 
presence of a resident pastor who regards himself as 
a community builder; the developing of many com- 
munity activities; the practice as well as the preaching 
of true democracy, the church will become a vital fac- 
tor in the community. 

Local Rural Government. It is needless to say that 
local government should be honest; it must also be ef- 
ficient. In dealing with public health, protection of 
life and property, community conveniences and all edu- 
cational work, the local government already finds its 
field. But is it not possible to enlarge the function 
of the local government? As the country community 
comes to need water, sewerage systems and so on, shall 
not public utilities be under public control in the coun- 
try as well as in the city? Why should not the county, 
for example, own and control a slaughter house, a 
cold storage, a system of elevators? In many counties 
the town or township is required to appropriate public 
money for the agricultural interests of the region in- 
stead of relying wholly upon the state or the nation or 
even the county as a whole. 

WHY SO MUCH EMPHASIS UPON THE ORGANIZATION 
OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY? 

In this book, two chapters are devoted to this one 
idea. Why so much talk about it? Let us summarize. 

i. To secure full efficiency in rural affairs, it is nec- 
essary to have relatively small groups or units. There 
is no business, no government, no army, no organized 
activities of any kind but finds this essential. It has 



ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY 189 

already been stated but cannot too often be repeated 
that even in agriculture the necessity of this relatively 
small grouping has been proved over and over again. 
It is the local church, the local school, the local Grange 
or Union or farmers' club that gets results. It is im- 
possible for a single farmer to cooperate with seven 
million other farmers. If he cooperates at all, he must 
cooperate with at most a few hundred, in nearly all of 
the effective acts of his life. The nation, the state, 
even the county, are too big for effective cooperation. 
So somewhere, in some way, we must bring together 
a few hundred farmers, and from these form what we 
are calling the local farming community. Whether 
there shall be 100 farmers or 1,000 farmers depends 
upon conditions. But there must be enough of them 
so that they can work together through institutions 
which they can maintain effectively, and not so many 
of them that they cannot work together as one man. 

2. The local community fully organized deals with 
all parts of the farm problem. Consequently, it is 
" agriculture in the small." The interests of the local 
community are identical with the interests of all the 
farmers of the nation or of the world, but on a scale 
so small that they can be dealt with. 

3. Acquaintance, friendship, cooperation, frequent 
meetings are essential if people are to work together 
for any length of time in any efficient way. Now these 
things are possible only in relatively small groups, and 
when the small group is acquainted, friendly, coopera- 
tive, meeting together, you have a community. 

4. If efficiency in agriculture and country life cannot 
be realized in these ways, it cannot be realized at all. 
That is to say, if the great majority of perhaps 50,000 
farming groups or local communities are not pro- 



190 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

ducing effectively, or managing their farms well, or 
making a profit, then American agriculture is not suc- 
cessful. The mere fact that certain farmers here and 
there accomplish these things does not make a pros- 
perous agriculture. 

5. And finally, if we are to secure a complete democ- 
racy among farmers, political, industrial and social, 
we shall get it only as we make it and keep it in the local 
community. If the local communities are not demo- 
cratic, the farmers as a whole will not be democratic. 

And so we emphasize the organizing these thousands 
of real farm communities as perhaps the crowning need 
of the farmer in the New Day. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE STATESMANSHIP OF RURAL AFFAIRS 

SOME WAR-TIME LESSONS FOR AMERICA 

America's participation in the war has revealed cer- 
tain weaknesses in the organization of American agri- 
culture. No national agricultural program existed at 
the time war was declared, and has been but partially- 
developed during the war. We have stood in need 
of a mobilization of agriculture somewhat akin to the 
mobilization of an army. We have needed an agricul- 
tural general staff. Nor has there been a real coor- 
dination of the interests of producers and consumers 
in the big problem of food supply. The farmers 
themselves have responded magnificently to the appeals 
to grow more food, and the machinery of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, of the colleges of agriculture, and 
of the farm bureaus has been unceasingly devoted to 
helping the farmers. There has been criticism of the 
federal Food Administration, but also a growing be- 
lief that it has been governed by wise statesmanship, a 
rare foresight, and motived by high aims. But we have 
not yet gained out of the war that close, definite, in- 
telligent, well-understood coordination in the whole 
problem of food supply that we ought to have. We 
find that we have no agricultural policy maker. Con- 
gressmen have repeatedly said, " How do we know 
who expresses the real agricultural thought and inter- 
est? " The farmer's vacant chair in national and in- 

191 



192 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

ternational councils has been all too obvious. Much 
new social machinery has been built and utilized for 
emergency agricultural production and distribution and 
for propaganda in rural districts. Some of it might 
well be saved for future use. There has been as yet 
no authoritative cooperation with European agricul- 
tural leaders on the larger policies, nor any repre- 
sentative body studying agricultural reconstruction at 
home. 

THE GOVERNMENT AND RURAL PROGRESS 

The province of government in the New Day will 
soon be a burning issue in America. Shall or shall not 
the government manage the railways, the telegraph 
lines, grain elevators, packing houses? Shall the gov- 
ernment fix prices, or assist in land settlement, or pro- 
vide agricultural credit? Shall the government do 
more or do less than it is now doing for agriculture? 
While these questions are supremely important to the 
farmer in this new time, our discussion of them herein 
must be exceedingly brief and in the form of a few 
mere suggestions. 

Legislation and the Farmer. As a rule, legislation 
is haphazard. It often results from the individual no- 
tions of some legislator or possibly grows out of the 
prejudices of a group of legislators. More often it is 
just sheer compromise between the radicals and the 
conservatives. While a compromise is a very practical 
sort of affair, it is not always wise. Perhaps some of 
the inequities and inadequacies of legislation in rural af- 
fairs could be remedied through the existence of a 
strong national association for agricultural legislation. 
We already have the beginnings of such an agency. 
Properly developed, this will be composed of both spe- 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 193 

cial students of economic and political affairs as related 
to rural matters and able, broad-minded, representative 
farmers. Such an association is intended not so much 
for propaganda purposes as for sober, hard thinking 
about fundamentals. Its written expressions ought to 
be worth while, possibly even authoritative. They will 
not be infallible but they should secure the attention of 
the great farmers' organizations as well as legislatures 
and Congress. Another helpful agency would be na- 
tional and state councils of agriculture and country life, 
which would gather around a conference board the 
representative leaders of all the different institutions 
interested in rural affairs in order to reach some agree- 
ment as to what is wise and best. No doubt the growth 
of a powerful farmers' organization which definitely 
represents the voting farmers would have the backing 
that is absolutely necessary in political propaganda. 
But this powerful farmers' organization should not 
make its demands simply because it is powerful, but 
because its demands are just and wise. There is need 
that this entire field of agricultural legislation should 
receive the best thought of our best minds. 

A Governmental Rural Policy. In an earlier part 
of this book, it was stated that a policy may be simply 
that which actually happens through a series of years, 
but that a policy for the New Day, a real policy, im- 
plies adequate knowledge, definite plans, correlation of 
effort. So in our governmental affairs, whatever is 
done or advocated by departments, boards or bureaus, 
should be the result of a well-founded and well- 
rounded policy. Probably there is in these agencies 
no lack of definite knowledge, and it should be easy 
for them to make plans. But it is more difficult to 
secure their cooperation. Within the state, for exam- 



i 9 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

pie, how may we adjust the administrative functions of 
a department of agriculture and the educational func- 
tions of a college of agriculture? We find in Wash- 
ington half a dozen or more bureaus or boards dealing 
with matters of agricultural education. If these can- 
not be consolidated, at least they ought to be forced to 
cooperate intimately and freely and unreservedly. 
Perhaps an agricultural development committee in each 
state and in Washington might be a means of grace in 
this connection. The British Agricultural Develop- 
ment Committee is virtually an advisory committee to 
Parliament. It has no direct authority, but its recom- 
mendations as to appropriations and as to the work of 
the different governmental agencies, both national and 
local, carry far in Parliament. Some such group au- 
thorized by law, and composed of representatives of 
the public agencies involved, with additional members 
appointed by the President and in the state by gov- 
ernors, might be able to secure the necessary coopera- 
tion of governmental agencies. The war has im- 
mensely increased here in America the ambitions and 
activities of various governmental agencies. It is not 
too strong a statement to say that we are on the verge 
of chaos with reference to the inter-relationships of 
public boards, departments and bureaus. It is a seri- 
ous situation and there is only one way out. There 
must be cooperation, if not voluntary, then compulsory. 
Information. Whatever our conclusions as to the 
place of the government dealing with agricultural mat- 
ters, there is clearly one task that it can perform better 
than any other agency and which is evidently its duty. 
That is the task of discovering and disseminating in- 
formation. This function embraces the necessity for 
accurate investigations, for wise and clear interpreta- 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 195 

tion of these investigations, for well planned and nu- 
merous demonstrations of the applicability of the prin- 
ciples worked out as the result of investigation, and for 
widespread publicity that will reach the masses of farm- 
ers with understandable expert advice. Government, 
both state and national, should gather and distribute 
the fullest possible information on all of the different 
aspects of the rural problem. Its duty does not stop 
with information about production, but includes the 
field of distribution of farm products and the welfare 
or country life phase of the farmers' interests. This 
information should not only be made available to all 
the farmers, but they must be all but compelled to 
listen if they are unresponsive. 

The government should keep a large staff of experts 
in all foreign countries gleaning every shred of infor- 
mation possible about food needs, agricultural methods, 
agricultural legislation, rural organization, country life 
endeavor. We are sometimes led to think by the vastly 
enlarging appropriations granted to our federal De- 
partment of Agriculture and its manifold and increas- 
ing activities, that we are taking care of this phase of 
governmental activity in thorough fashion. As a mat- 
ter of fact, the present agencies are inadequate. For 
one thing, they are provincial, dealing with too narrow 
areas of interest; they should scour the world. They 
are too narrow in their scope; only within a few years 
have we even touched the field of distribution, and coun- 
try life interests have received slight consideration. 
Moreover, in spite of our farm bureaus and extension 
services, we still fail to reach a large majority of the 
working farmers with all the information that they 
need regarding the world's need for food and the 
world's supply of food. We have made a good deal 



196 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

of progress, especially since the war opened and par- 
ticularly in the matter of market information, the range 
of prices, etc. But we need at once closer cooperation 
between the federal Bureau of Markets, the research 
and extension divisions of the agricultural colleges in 
the field of marketing, and the state market bureaus, 
which are administrative and not educational. We 
must know what is happening in the agricultural world, 
and how it affects America. 

Relationships. The federal government is the only 
agency that can properly determine and adjust inter- 
state and international relationships in rural affairs. 
We must rely upon it to find the proper place for agri- 
culture in our foreign trade. In cooperation with the 
great associations of producers, it must work out such 
zones of production as may be feasible. 

Cooperation with Voluntary Agencies. This is one 
of the great needs of the New Day. We have a right 
to expect that the government, through the Department 
of Agriculture, will take the initiative in getting into 
close touch with the various agricultural agencies and 
associations. Unfortunately, these agencies do not al- 
ways respond in the spirit of cooperation. Sometimes 
there may be fear on the part of the government 
officials that if they call into conference representatives 
of farmers, demands will be made which will limit the 
freedom of action of the officials. But it should not be 
difficult to avoid this, if both the government officials 
and the representatives of the farmers once become im- 
pressed with the need of common counsel and planning. 

Government Ownership or Control. The farmers 
were the originators of the demand for governmental 
regulation of railways, and we have long since passed 
the stage of irresponsible railroad management. Gov- 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 197 

ernment ownership of railways is clearly to be one of 
the great political questions of the period after the war. 
The issues ought to be clarified now so far as the farm- 
ers are concerned. The question is not wholly that of 
abolishing the evils of exploitation through private 
management, nor the advantages of unification that re- 
sult from government control. The main issues in the 
immediate relation between railways and agriculture is 
largely one of adjusting rates on a basis that will give 
the largest measure of justice to competing areas or 
regions of production. This is a most complex and 
difficult task. It affects consumers as well as growers. 
For example, the splendid railway refrigerator system, 
the fast freights and so on, have brought the perish- 
able fruits and vegetables of the West to the eastern 
markets. This has been a great advantage to the west- 
ern producers and possibly to the eastern consumers, 
but it has undermined eastern agriculture of a certain 
type. This instance is typical of an innumerable list 
of cases where transportation, like many other improve- 
ments, disturbs production. These changes are inevit- 
able. But if they reduce the profits of large numbers 
of farmers, protests will be strong and frequent, par- 
ticularly if government is responsible for the conditions 
to which the injured farmers object. 

It is improbable that in the near future there will 
be in America a serious demand for the nationalization 
of the agricultural land. But there are many evidences 
that we are already on the verge of a growing demand 
that the government shall take charge of the task of 
providing land for tenants and young farmers on better 
terms than they can secure at present. The increasing 
extent to which farm lands are passing into the hands 
of capitalists, either the capitalist farmer or the cap- 



198 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

italist banker or merchant, is creating a strong pres- 
sure for governmental action of some sort. 

Theoretically, the ideal marketing machinery for 
farm products would consist of a thoroughly organized 
group of agricultural producers, dealing with equally 
well-organized groups or communities of consumers, 
with only such intermediaries, and these also presum- 
ably well organized, as are absolutely necessary to the 
most effective handling of the product from grower to 
consumer. Through storages owned in part by pro- 
ducer and in part by consumers, and with large collec- 
tion units or centers managed by producers' associa- 
tions, and large distributing centers or units managed by 
consumers' agencies, a large part of the present machin- 
ery of the middlemen would be displaced. Public 
markets would be a factor in the plan. Then with the 
government owning or controlling the means of trans- 
portation, we would have a thoroughly democratic and 
effective scheme of distribution of food products. 

Practically we are a long distance from the realiza- 
tion of such a well-balanced scheme, but government 
may at least encourage and aid the organization of both 
producers and consumers, and through its police power 
abolish the more flagrant abuses that arise in the pres- 
ent distributing process. Much will be gained by a 
more complete system of information, gathered and 
disseminated by government, relative to food needs, 
food supplies, food prices, food movements. Fortu- 
nately, a good beginning has been made in this field. 
Publicly owned elevators, abattoirs, storages and ware- 
houses we may be obliged to have if private interests 
do not bend to reasonable demands from the farmers 
for fair dealing. 

As a general principle, we should accept the idea that 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 199 

the best service of the government to the farmer is to 
help him to help himself, or rather to help the farmers 
to help themselves through cooperative methods; and 
to refrain from all activities that can be done well by 
individuals or by voluntary organizations. Govern- 
ment regulation has become an absolute necessity; there 
is no question about that principle. With respect to 
government management or even government owner- 
ship, we ought to be in the mood to have it wherever 
it has become clear that voluntary organizations of 
producers and consumers on the one hand, and state 
and federal regulatory laws on the other hand, are 
still ineffective to get substantial justice for the great 
masses of producers and consumers. 

Federal Appropriations. The federal government 
has been quite generous to agriculture. But there will 
be new and extensive calls for federal money for many 
purposes connected with agricultural improvement. 
There may be, however, a growing resentment at too 
detailed control of such funds from the federal treas- 
ury as are appropriated and used in the states by fed- 
eral authority. There is a widespread feeling that the 
federal government should appropriate money for cer- 
tain state purposes, and let the states handle it as they 
like. The tendency of Congress is to insist that the 
federal appropriation shall be supplemented by state 
and local appropriations, the work to be planned jointly 
and executed locally, but with close supervision by the 
federal government, and with the latter holding veto 
power over expenditures. There are those, too, who 
are strongly opposed to federal appropriations for agri- 
cultural purposes on the ground that each state knows 
best its own needs, and has an obligation to take care of 
its own problems; and also because of an earnest con- 



200 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

viction against the policy of centralized control of local 
enterprises by the federal government. 

On the whole, it is advantageous to have federal 
appropriations for the larger interests of agriculture, 
provided these appropriations are supplemented by 
state appropriations. A federal law of this character 
at once tends to nationalize and broaden all good move- 
ments. Agriculture and country life are national, not 
state, concerns; it does make a difference to the whole 
country if one single state has neglected, for example, 
the development of an adequate system of agricultural 
educatio 1. A measure of control should follow every 
public appropriation; consequently, a degree of federal 
control should follow all federal appropriations. The 
real difficulty comes in deciding upon the extent of con- 
trol. The federal government should determine 
through the law itself what are the main large ends or 
objects to be pursued with the money thus appropriated, 
and should require of the states plans or projects which 
appear to be promising and effective in reaching these 
ends. There should be detailed accounting for the use 
of the money, and a day of judgment at least once a 
year in which the projects are checked up to determine 
whether the money has been used for the right pur- 
poses and in a reasonably effective way. The contin- 
uance of federal appropriations should depend upon 
the proper use of federal money. Beyond this federal 
control should not go. The moment it attempts to de- 
cide details, to determine personnel, to pass judgment 
on local needs and particularly when it attempts to se- 
cure uniformity of method and standardization of pro- 
jects throughout the country, it is in danger of becoming 
bureaucratic, ineffective, and wasteful. 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 201 



SOME LIMITATIONS TO GOVERNMENTAL EFFICIENCY 

Laws in themselves carry limitations. It is rare that 
a law meets all situations adequately. Moreover, un- 
der the law there arises an increasing necessity for ad- 
ministrative rule which, while only purporting to be an 
interpretation of the law, has all the force of law. 
The great difficulty with these laws and rules is that 
they are so iron clad; if their wisdom is questioned, 
there is slight redress. What is best and wisest and 
most effective may be buried in the reiterated answer of 
the official, " This is the law." One of the penalties we 
pay for the reign of law, which of course is the bedrock 
of civilization, is the temptation on the part of admin- 
istrators of the law to become tithers of mint and anise 
and cummin. 

In all government affairs, there is a growing necessity 
for order and system; so we develop formal written 
projects and memoranda. They are valuable, prob- 
ably indispensable. But their use tends to the emphasis 
upon a paper plan rather than upon the significance of 
the results to be achieved by the plan. The considera- 
tion of these documents consumes time and energy and 
often causes serious delays. As these things increase, 
greater becomes the lack of personal responsibility and 
personal judgment, and more and more decisions are 
made on the basis of precedent and rule and form 
rather than on actual needs. The administration be- 
comes rigid rather than plastic and practical. Govern- 
ment officials find themselves under the almost irresist- 
ible necessity of forming judgments in the office rather 
than in the field. In a great organization, it is not easy 
to secure the best man for the most important adminis- 
trative positions and it is difficult to get rid of incom- 



202 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

petents. Officials tend to become conservative, cau- 
tious rather than original and aggressive. There 
seems to be a tendency on the part of government 
officials to resent suggestions from outside. To be 
sure, they are the targets for all sorts of foolish sug- 
gestions and unfortunately, almost unconsciously per- 
haps, they form the attitude of thinking of the outsider 
who makes suggestions as an interloper. In the same 
way, governmental bureaus more and more seem to 
desire to do their work without reference to other 
agencies. Some of the younger men engaged in our 
great system of agricultural education hardly know that 
the great farmers' organizations exist and often fail to 
understand the fundamental need of preserving the in- 
itiative and the cooperative power of the farmers them- 
selves. The general policy of the government bureau 
is more or less subject to the limitations of the chief 
officials who change from time to time; generally speak- 
ing the responsible administrator tends to be cautious 
rather than a leader. 

THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND THE AGRI- 
CULTURAL PROGRAM 

A recent letter from one of the ablest of our agricul- 
tural leaders stated a strong conviction that no question 
should be raised concerning the right and duty of the 
United States Department of Agriculture to outline an 
agricultural policy and to make our agricultural pro- 
gram. There is no doubt but the farmers themselves 
have always looked to the department for leadership. 
The creation of the department as a cabinet position 
was due very largely to the efforts of the farmers' or- 
ganizations, led by the Grange. In the earlier days, it 
was expected that the Secretary would be a farmer. 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 203 

The farmers wished to see themselves represented at 
the nation's council-table by one of their own kind. 
They wished to feel that they had a part in shaping 
policies. They delighted in the sense of partnership 
with the government. They expected that the Secre- 
tary of Agriculture would in a measure become the 
farmers' spokesman to the President, to Congress, to 
the nation and to the world. There are many students 
of rural affairs who believe that the department should 
be the unquestioned agency to organize policies, map 
out programs, lead the force of agricultural improve- 
ment. Among the officials of the department, there is 
probably very strong conviction concerning the primacy 
of the department as leader. But there are considera- 
tions of caution. 

There are the administrative limitations already 
mentioned ; — those that belong to government as such ; 
they are a menace to originality, reform, agitation, 
even to statesmanship. In spite of all the good inten- 
tions of public officials there will always be a tendency 
to get away from the working farmer. 

There are functional limitations — some things that 
we do not want government to do. American country 
life, for example, can never be all it ought to be apart 
from a virile religious life. Obviously the government 
cannot manage the church. Government cannot buy 
the farmers' supplies for him nor sell his crops for him; 
no one expects the farmer to surrender his business in- 
itiative to the government. 

The farmer can be truly represented only by the 
farmer. The public official may be a wise guide and 
counselor, and if so his word ought to be listened to and 
heeded; but no public official, not even an agricultural 
college president, has the power to speak in the same 



20 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

fashion about the needs and wants and demands of the 
farmers as has the working farmer or the official desig- 
nated by the farmers' organization to speak for it. 
The official may appreciate the farmers' attitude, and 
he should have the courage to tell the farmers at times 
that they are wrong in their attitudes. But no govern- 
ment department can exercise complete leadership in 
agriculture for the reason that they are not of and by 
the farmers. 

Political action lies outside the jurisdiction of the De- 
partment of Agriculture and of the colleges of agricul- 
ture; yet there can be no adequate agricultural leader- 
ship that does not have in it the possibilities and the 
power of political action. If we are to have a democ- 
racy, the agricultural part of it must not be voiceless or 
dependent upon any government agency for expression 
of its political power. At times it may be necessary 
for the farmers to exercise their political power in op- 
position to the government agency. 

Although urging the enlargement of the activities of 
the government as a source of information to farmers, 
it is realized that over-much dependence upon the gov- 
ernment may check individual and community initiative, 
and prevent what after all is the great aim in govern- 
mental activity, to help the individual and his local 
group to help themselves. European states with the 
most efficient agriculture do not depend upon the gov- 
ernment nearly so much as they do upon voluntary or- 
ganization. The government is the only agency to de- 
velop systems of agricultural education and regulation. 
Governmental authority is indispensable. But it will 
be most unfortunate if the American farmers fail to 
organize themselves in the community and in the state 
and in the nation; it will be deplorable if they become 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 205 

completely dependent upon the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture for initiative and leadership and 
statesmanship. 

Is not this unduly minimizing the work of the depart- 
ment? No; it is merely indicating its limitations as the 
one source of agricultural leadership. The depart- 
ment in the New Day should : 

Keep abreast, even in advance, of the most progres- 
sive thought of the world concerning absolutely all as- 
pects of the problem of agriculture and country life and 
how the problem may be met. 

Frame a clear-cut, statesmanlike policy and a very 
definite progressive program for its own activities. 

Assist in securing complete coordination with other 
publicly supported agencies, national, state, and local. 

Maintain the fullest and freest cooperative relations 
with voluntary associations of farmers, especially with 
the great national organizations of agriculture and 
country life. 

THE LEADERSHIP OF ORGANIZED FARMERS 

It is difficult to discuss this question of agricultural 
leadership without seeming to criticize governmental 
agencies and to show lack of faith in the wisdom of or- 
ganized agriculture, and it is hoped that nothing that 
has thus far been said will be construed as criticism. 
It is simply a point of view based on the earnest con- 
viction that the farmers of a free country must not be- 
come dependent upon government. So we look for the 
farmers of the New Day to get together, to unify and 
organize interests, to present a solid front not in antag- 
onism to the government agencies, but in cooperation 
with them. It is only in this way that it is at all pos- 
sible to have a genuine statesmanship of rural affairs. 



206 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

On what plan can farmers develop that full measure of 
organized effort that will give them power to speak 
and act together? The following scheme is at least 
suggestive. 

i. Develop as rapidly as possible the organization 
of producing groups such as the cotton men, the live- 
stock men, the dairymen. These should interest them- 
selves to an extent in increased production, but to a 
much greater extent in efficient methods of buying their 
supplies and selling their products, and in legislation 
affecting their business. 

2. Maintain the great farmers' organizations, such 
as the Grange and the Farmers' Union, with rather 
large, general objectives and with a very broad policy 
and program. 

3. Endeavor to secure an overhead but perhaps 
loosely associated league of all organizations of farm- 
ers, possibly much like the present National Board of 
Farmers' Organizations, which will draw together the 
various organized activities of farmers for confer- 
ence and counsel. 

4. It is possible that such a league of farmers' or- 
ganizations may be sufficiently aggressive for all legiti- 
mate political purposes that the farmers may care to 
press. If it is not, however, there will be a place from 
time to time for definite political movements on the 
part of farmers. 

5. Make a plan for securing the clear-cut coopera- 
tion with organized farmers of all the publicly sup- 
ported agencies for agricultural improvement, partic- 
ularly those of an educational nature, but including also 
the administrative or regulatory bureaus and depart- 
ments. 

6. There should be a national country life committee 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 207 

which should seek to bring to a common platform all 
the activities of the associated efforts that are already 
at work or that may develop on behalf of rural educa- 
tion, the rural home, adequate recreation, health and 
sanitation, country planning, and morals and religion. 

7. In some way the interests of the city, not only of 
consumers but also of urban agricultural business inter- 
ests, should be recognized in order that they may be 
brought into intimate touch with the farmers and the 
agricultural agencies. We cannot make progress in 
the New Day unless the agricultural interests in food 
production and distribution are tied up with the inter- 
ests which the rest of the world have in the agricultural 
industry. 

8. Establish a National Council of Agriculture and 
Country Life that will be a conferring and deliberating 
body, large enough to be thoroughly representative of 
all public as well as voluntary agencies. It should be 
small enough for deliberate counsel. The National 
Council of Agriculture and Country Life would not 
commit any of its members to policies subversive of 
their interests as they see them. It would simply be a 
central body which, by its careful deliberations, by its 
wide representation, and by the breadth and scope of its 
purposes, would be considered by the farmers them- 
selves, by Congress, and by the world at large, as the 
responsible spokesman for the best thought and purpose 
in American agriculture and country life. 

THE FARM PRESS 

The agricultural press is an exceedingly important 
factor in rural advancement. As a rule, it deals thor- 
oughly and adequately with problems of production. 
Certain agricultural papers have for many years cov- 



208 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

ered in a clear-cut way the business requirements of 
farmers. Some, however, have failed to appreciate 
the cooperative movement or have overdone the atti- 
tude of bitterness toward the middleman. Others have 
been inclined to cater to the farmer's prejudices and to 
hammer incessantly at the city man and his interests and 
his theories. Probably, as a class, the agricultural pa- 
pers have neglected the country life aspects of the rural 
problem. Various organizations of farmers have their 
organs which deal much more with the machinery of the 
organization than with broad policies. In some re- 
spects the agricultural press is the most important sin- 
gle agency in developing rural public opinion, as it is 
the most widely read of all publications relating to 
agriculture. It arrives in the farm home regularly and 
frequently. It assumes to be the spokesman of the 
farmer, and usually it meets him on his own ground. 

Our agricultural editors are among the clearest 
headed leaders in the whole agricultural field. If one 
outside of the fold might offer advice to the agricultural 
press, it would be the importance of seeing the light of 
the New Day and interpreting fundamental democracy 
to American farmers. 

THE STATESMANSHIP OF RURAL AFFAIRS 

The great war is coming to its close as these words 
are being written. The world has been made safe for 
democracy. The war is over, but the great struggle of 
the New Day has but just begun. Democracy must be 
made safe for the world. 

If the development of real and permanent democracy 
becomes the main peace task of the nations of the 
world, it will be found that it is a task affecting hosts of 
rural people. It is true that in highly industrial coun- 



RURAL STATESMANSHIP 209 

tries, like Belgium, England, France, or Germany, the 
laboring man, the wage earner, will be the spokes- 
man for social reconstruction. Labor has already 
made its demand that it shall be represented at the 
peace table. Taking the world around, however, la- 
bor as compared with agriculture is a minority party. 
It has everywhere a big stake in democracy, but so has 
agriculture. Nine-tenths of the people of Russia are 
rural. Poland, the Balkans, the larger part of Aus- 
tria, Asia Minor are either all distinctively or strongly 
rural. If the democratic movement spreads to India 
or China, it will have to deal to a very large extent with 
rural people. Indeed, there are but few really urban 
nations. Labor is rightfully insistent upon a fuller 
measure of democracy, and it is more vocal than agri- 
culture, perhaps because it feels more keenly its dis- 
ability. If the laborer is out of work he soon ap- 
proaches the dead line of starvation. The farmer may 
be economically oppressed and yet manage to get bread 
for himself and his family. But labor is heard chiefly 
because it is well organized and groups itself in the 
great centers of population where it has access to pub- 
lic opinion. The farmers are scattered and unorgan- 
ized and have few organs of public opinion. The great 
populations of the world can become democratic only as 
their agriculture is organized and their farm population 
is intelligent and cooperative. 

Agriculture as a world issue will be forced upon us 
by the demand for food, even if the demand for democ- 
racy should fail as a rallying cry. Both sides in the 
world war were compelled to unify the problem of their 
food supply. The moment the armistice was declared, 
an effort was made to treat the problem of supplying 
food to all the nations that have been at war as one 



210 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

large unified task. There is no other possible way of 
handling the matter, at least until each country has had 
a chance to get back to something like normal condi- 
tions in agricultural production. But why should not 
this unifying of the world's food supply be a permanent 
affair? In truth, it is not any longer merely national. 
There has been much discussion about nations becoming 
self-sufficing as to food. If we are still to live in prepa- 
ration for possible future wars, it is vital for national 
safety that each country should grow as much as it can 
of its own soil products. But if the world's need is to 
be met by a world statesmanship, agriculture must be 
the subject of the wisest planning and the most thor- 
ough organization. The farmer cannot be omitted in 
the evolution of the statesmanship demanded for the 
New Day. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE FARMER AND THE NEW DEMOCRACY 

Why do we hear so much these days about democ- 
racy? Europe perhaps needs democracy, but why dis- 
cuss it for America? It is easy to sense the contrast 
between autocratic Germany and free America. It is 
clear that when Russia overthrew the reign of the Czar 
she desired democracy; and it is equally clear that what 
she really obtained at first was not democracy at all, but 
merely a different kind of autocracy. Some of us may 
have read the declaration of the British Labor Party, 
which calls for a " complete reconstruction of society," 
and perhaps we observed to ourselves that for England 
with its House of Lords and its king and its nobility, 
such a necessity may exist; but as for America we now 
have democracy and no reconstruction is needed. 

Democracy is the outstanding, distinctive glory of 
our great country. Her mission has been to show the 
world how to develop a nation at once populous, busy, 
efficient, free. But this is not the whole story. Most 
Americans think of democracy as a form of government 
in which the people rule through their right to vote. 
Democracy is something far more than popular election 
of representatives or even of popular vote on laws and 
constitutions. We may easily mistake the form of 
democratic government for its reality. Have we never 
protested against the rule of " bosses " and of " rings " 
and of " the interests "? Are we satisfied that even in 
government we have actually realized the full fact of 

211 



212 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

a true democracy? But we have made an even more 
serious blunder. We have assumed that the demo- 
cratic mode of government makes us sure of the dem- 
ocratic mode of working and of living together. Per- 
haps we have not even thought of democracy as having 
any connection with business or industry, or with what 
we call our social relations. But if we do think about 
this aspect of democracy, do we not realize at once that 
the best use of a democratic government is to ensure us 
real freedom in our work and life? Are we satisfied 
that even in America the conditions under which the 
majority of men work are entirely fair? We have 
seen the rise of labor organizations, the enactment of 
legislation to restrain monopolies and to regulate huge 
business enterprises. We witnessed the urge of the 
Progressive party for " the square deal." Do we not 
realize that all these things were simply phases of the 
great struggle for more democracy in all aspects of our 
national affairs? 

We cannot fully appreciate the demand for more de- 
mocracy, here as well as in other countries, which the 
New Day will surely bring to us, unless we dwell 
thoughtfully upon the principles that underlie a true 
democracy. Let us see what they mean for the farmer. 
There are perhaps four great ideas that serve as the 
underpinning of a true democracy: 

(i) Individual freedom, 

( 2 ) Equality of opportunity, 

(3) Responsible participation in affairs, and 

(4) Cooperation for the common good. 

INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM 

What a world of history has been made in the effort 
of mankind to achieve freedom — the liberty of indi- 



THE NEW DEMOCRACY 213 

viduals to act, to think, to believe, to worship, to gov- 
ern, each according to the dictates of his own con- 
science, will or interest! Men may follow a long, a 
torturous, a steep and even a bloody road to freedom, 
but freedom they will have. The democratic instinct 
will push its way to the light. But men want the reality 
not merely the forms of freedom. They must be free 
to work where they will, free to move out of one 
" class " into another, free to initiate enterprise, free 
to go and to come. Freedom is impossible however 
unless all people everywhere realize and acknowledge 
the dignity of manhood. A man's a man. The man 
himself must appreciate this fact. He must seek free- 
dom from ignorance, from prejudice, from vicious 
habits. He must desire earnestly the best gifts. If he 
wants others to regard him as a man he must seek to 
be a man. He must be as ambitious for himself as 
others are for him. He must not only have the chance 
to grow into the stature of full manhood, he must want 
to do it. Real democracy means not merely freedom 
of the individual from slavery to other individuals, but 
from slavery to his own worse self. 

Is the American farmer free? Undoubtedly he is 
more free than the farmer of any other country, and 
probably fully as free as the member of any other great 
group or class of citizens in America. The farmer's 
independence has been his pride and has often made 
him the envy of others. He has stood upon his own 
feet on his own land, worked in his own way, moved 
about as he desired. He has managed his own busi- 
ness, bought his supplies and sold his products, made 
his own bargains. His sons and his daughters have 
stayed on the farm or have gone into other callings as 
they chose. 



2i 4 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Nevertheless, there has been creeping into our farm 
life a certain dim, intangible limitation to the farmer's 
freedom, one that the farmer, while often conscious of 
it, does not always appreciate as a failure of democracy. 
During the past few decades, certain bonds have been 
tightening around him. The free land is exhausted; it 
is increasingly more difficult for the man without capital 
to procure land for farming. Many of the limitations 
of the farmer described in an earlier chapter are hedg- 
ing him about and limiting his freedom. 

EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY 

This is closely akin to freedom. Freedom implies 
liberty to act, think, speak freely. Equality of oppor- 
tunity means that each man has an equal chance with 
every other man to grow, to make the most of himself. 
Men are not equal in capacity and no democracy can 
make them so. But what democracy asks is that each 
man may have as good a chance as every other man to 
develop whatever capacity he may have. With the 
growth of cities, the farmer has probably been slowly 
but rather surely losing ground with respect to some of 
his opportunities as compared with those that he would 
find if he became a city dweller. He has an increasing 
lack of opportunity to share in some of the things that 
are best developed where many people are concerned, 
and where ample money resources are available. On 
the more superficial side of life, in amusements, con- 
veniences, comforts, the city has rather outstripped the 
country. Lectures, concerts, operas, theaters, electric 
lights, rapid transit — these come to the city dweller 
first and sometimes exclusively. To many farming 
areas these things are fully available, but in vast regions 



THE NEW DEMOCRACY 215 

the poverty of such resources is characteristic. This 
would not be so serious if there were not increasing lim- 
itations of a more fundamental sort. On the whole the 
country child does not have as good a chance for a 
thorough schooling as the city child. The country 
church is not, as a rule, exercising as much leadership in 
constructive thinking about the application of Christian 
principles to human problems as the city church. 
Books and solid periodicals are found everywhere in 
the country, but it is a question whether, for example, 
there are to-day among farmers as many real students 
of democratic policies as there are among working men. 
The isolation of the farmer has helped him to a real 
independence or freedom, but it tends also gradually to 
lessen his chances for an equal race with his fellows in 
other occupations. 

RESPONSIBLE PARTICIPATION IN AFFAIRS 

We say that in a democracy the people rule. We 
mean that each citizen has his chance to express his 
views about how all the people shall act. He partici- 
pates in government because the whole thing eventually 
comes back to him for approval or disapproval. Now 
the oncoming fight for more democracy is based on the 
idea that the people shall manage their work as well as 
their politics. We were so proud of our freedom 
which allowed an individual to manage his own busi- 
ness, that when big business grew up we were inclined 
to forget that the men who furnish labor as well as the 
men who furnish capital or those who supply executive 
ability, should have a part in the management of the 
entire business. We are now asking ourselves whether 
this scheme is fair. Does the workman really get his 



216 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

share in the gains of industry? Does he have a fair 
chance to decide upon the conditions under which he 
works? 

It is this test of a democracy that is the most serious 
when applied to American agriculture. The farmer 
still manages his farm, subject of course to the incon- 
sistencies of Mother Nature, but it is very doubtful if 
he manages his business. It takes two to make a bar- 
gain; yet the individual farmer participates too slightly 
in pricemaking, either when he sells or when he buys. 
" He takes what he can get and he pays what he must " 
is the crude but fairly accurate way of putting it. Nor 
does he as yet have free access to the great reservoirs of 
capital and of labor, nor to proper facilities for pro- 
tection and insurance, that are available to other men 
who need to use these factors. He is gradually losing 
the ownership of his land, the most important thing of 
all. Farmers have an enormous influence as a group 
of voters at the polls but not very much in constructive 
politics. They do not assist as much in planning the 
big movements and in giving direction to the big forces 
that affect their industry, as is the case with other large 
groups. 

COOPERATION FOR THE COMMON GOOD 

Our older American democracy staked its success on 
the freedom of the individual. The newer democracy 
puts its main stress upon the cooperation of all individ- 
uals for the common good. " No man liveth unto him- 
self " was always good morals; in our time it is good 
citizenship, good government and good business. 
Complete personal independence is no longer possible, 
if ever it was. The world's work is done by groups, 
large and small, more or less compact and well organ- 



THE NEW DEMOCRACY 217 

ized. The lone man cannot be really free. True free- 
dom implies working with one's fellows. Both self- 
interest and public interest demand cooperation. The 
individual becomes responsible to all the rest to an ex- 
tent that makes his attitude toward them the real test 
of morals. If he works for the common good he is a 
good man; if he works against it he is a bad man. In 
the same way all of us must assume a new responsibil- 
ity for each individual's well-being. 

Perhaps some one will discover a better word than 
" efficiency " to describe the idea that is now conveyed 
by that word; but we cannot dispense with the idea. 
Democracy must be truly efficient if it is to be perma- 
nent. Now the key to efficiency is organization — that 
process by which each person does in the best way 
what he can best do to help carry out some common 
plan. But organization usually means a planning and 
directing mind. There must be a leader, usually a 
" boss." Democracies realize this and so they choose 
their " boss." This man is cheerfuly obeyed so long 
as he himself is efficient and fair; when he is not, he is 
displaced. An autocracy gives the participants in any 
given piece of work no chance either to choose or to re- 
call the leader or commander. If democracy so wills, 
it can be more truly and permanently efficient than an 
autocracy, because it can substitute free, interested, in- 
telligent, cooperating groups for coerced underlings. 
These truths apply to industry as well as to govern- 
ment. Here lies one of democracy's great tasks when 
the war is over — to unite freedom with efficiency, to 
make cooperating groups, under expert leadership, take 
the place, the world over and in all departments of 
human work and life, of compulsory terms of labor 
and of autocratic methods of organizations. 



218 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

A democracy, therefore, must be fraternal. The 
highest ideal of a democracy is a real brotherhood. If 
the spirit of brotherhood be not present in full measure, 
there can be no democracy. In fact true democracy is 
spirit rather than form. If you cannot feel right to- 
ward your fellows, feel the dignity and worth of each 
man, feel glad when he succeeds and sorry when he 
fails, feel angry when injustice prevails and be coura- 
geous to insist on the square deal for every man, feel 
anxious that every man have his chance as well as that 
you have yours — if you have not this attitude you are 
by that much short of being a true democrat. 

The American farmer is a friendly man. It is 
doubtful if anywhere in the world there can be found 
so large a class of people who feel more completely and 
keenly this fundamental spirit of democracy. But the 
farmer has been slow to learn the lessons of coopera- 
tion. He is still an individualist. Probably only 
necessity will drive him to cooperation. But the New 
Day is itself a necessity. The farmers will fail griev- 
ously to meet their obligations to the world need if they 
decline to organize thoroughly for the sake of efficiency 
and in order the better to fulfill their special responsi- 
bilities. It is at this point that democracy calls to the 
farmer for help. 

THE RURAL CONTRIBUTION TO DEMOCRACY 

It would be a great misfortune if, in this supreme 
crisis of world history, the leaders who seek to rebuild 
human society everywhere on a democratic basis should 
fail to include the land tillers in their plan, or if the 
farmers themselves should fail to rise to the new de- 
mands upon their intelligence, their power to cooperate, 
their loyalty to the best in citizenship. The fact of 



THE NEW DEMOCRACY 219 

mere numbers is itself important. The farmer vote 
wherever universal suffrage prevails holds the balance 
of power or is overwhelmingly the majority vote. The 
business of farming is vital and primary. The farmers 
have an innate love of fair play. It is certainly true of 
the American farmer that he is a thoughtful citizen. 
He has time to think and he does think. There is a 
certain poise or balance among farmers, amounting 
often to undue conservatism, that can assist mightily 
in an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary progress. 
Let it be said too that any efforts to prevent democracy 
from having its way in the new time must not be scorn- 
ful of the farmer's influence; for once he has broken 
the moorings of conservatism he becomes a radical of 
the radicals. The very insistence of the farmer upon 
the freedom of the individual is good doctrine in a time 
of organized effort. For let the rural emphasis upon 
individualism be broadened a bit until it becomes merely 
insistence upon individuality and we will have almost 
the ideal attitude. Individualism tends unquestionably 
to be selfish. Individuality just as surely is needed in a 
world where the cooperation of great groups may easily 
submerge the man himself. The farmer has a genuine 
contribution to make to a fuller democracy. 

SOME QUESTIONS ARISE 

But will American farmers cooperate? There is no 
doubt but the American farmer instinctively and tradi- 
tionally prefers the independent method of work. Yet 
for fifty years he has recognized the growing need of 
collective effort. As a matter of fact a complete census 
of organized activities among our farmers would reveal 
a stupendous development of cooperative endeavor. 
Our country is so big, the needs of different sections so 



220 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

different, that we see only parts of the whole. The 
cooperative work of farmers is done quietly as a rule. 
It does not easily gain publicity, especially in cities. 
The most serious phase of the situation is that there is 
nowhere a big, comprehensive policy with respect to 
cooperation. We need to know more fully where col- 
lective action is desirable or necessary. We need some 
general overhead plan for the steady, sane, effective de- 
velopment of cooperation in all fields of rural improve- 
ment. It is here that the need is greatest and so here 
the most thought and study should come; here, too, the 
first steps should be taken. The extent of the farmer's 
contribution to democracy depends in large measure 
upon his success in establishing a wise policy of collec- 
tive action. 

Can the city help the country? And will the farmer 
cooperate with city people and agencies? The city can 
help the country materially, but only as it attempts to 
do so in the full spirit of genuine cooperation. Farm- 
ers resent "slumming" and "uplift." If it were 
otherwise we would know that the old-time American 
farmer had passed away. But even well-meant effort 
by an urban group often fails because of inadequate 
knowledge of conditions. It is easy to assume that 
what has " worked " in the city will work in the coun- 
try; that the organizing and executive genius that has 
built huge industries, if applied to the solution of the 
troubles of farmers, will master the situation; that lead- 
ership in agricultural matters, especially in their busi- 
ness aspect, must come from the city; that farmers are 
in the last throes of despair and need above all else the 
saving services of organized philanthropy. The farm- 
ers in turn find it difficult not to resent any approach 
from urban interests, even those most sincere and sym- 



THE NEW DEMOCRACY 221 

pathetic; to be suspicious of some dark plot to entrap 
the unwary; to assume that all city residents regard 
country residents as inferior; to be in general unduly 
class-conscious. There is no doubt but the city can help 
the country in many ways. It has organizing ability, 
it has wealth, it has well-developed agencies for both 
business and social improvement. The right sort of 
urban aid, from the right sort of people, offered in a 
spirit of genuine cooperation and suffused with under- 
standing as well as real sympathy, could be vitalized in 
many rural causes. There is no sound reason why 
farmers should not welcome such cooperation, and they 
will do so once it is clear that the offer is sincere and 
intelligent. 

Another question, less frequently asked, is equally 
pertinent: Can the country help the city? Why not? 
It already furnishes fresh blood for city building. 
Were it not for this transfusion, city life would surely 
deteriorate. The country can endeavor to ensure the 
health of the migration cityward. The service to the 
cities and so to the nation which the country is ren- 
dering as the nursery of young manhood and woman- 
hood is not sufficiently recognized. The greatest asset 
of a democracy is people who are healthy of body, intel- 
ligent of mind, clean of morals and friendly of spirit. 
The farms have bred such people and they can and 
should continue to breed them. It will be one of the 
farmer's best contributions to democracy. The farmer 
can help the city by trying to understand the problems 
of the city. He can support such wise measures of re- 
form as will help the honest urban citizens to put under 
foot the sinister forces that haunt municipal politics and 
prey upon the people. Farmers habitually think of 
these things as not particularly their affair; but it is their 



222 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

affair. Both city and country must see their mutual de- 
pendence. The national welfare is far bigger than any 
questions of country or city alone. 

Is there a rural aristocracy? It is often assumed 
that the sharp distinctions between very rich and very 
poor, which seem so patent in the city, do not exist in 
the country, and that therefore the farmers show no 
social cleavages. This is contrary both to fact and to 
good sense. Every neighborhood has its family or 
families of comparative wealth. As a rule this wealth 
is due to superior skill, though sometimes merely to the 
accident of inheritance. In every neighborhood there 
are the relatively poor. This poverty is due often to 
sheer incompetence, but of course also to misfortune. 
It is idle to deny that there are wide divergencies of 
capacity, of intelligence, of refinement among farm 
families, and these divergencies cause certain groupings, 
classifications, even cliques. The plantation system of 
the South bred marked distinctions between owner and 
laborer as well as social antagonisms. In the North 
the old practice of the " hired man " and the " hired 
girl " eating with the family tends to disappear. The 
influx of alien races breaks up the old alignments. But 
why should we not expect all this? It is a false idea of 
democracy that fails to provide for the distinctions that 
grow out of real differences among people. There is 
a true equality and there is a false equality in a de- 
mocracy. Moreover, in spite of our best selves, we 
find ourselves rather proud of such attainments as set 
us above or apart from the crowd. There is an inher- 
ent tendency toward aristocracy. At its best this tend- 
ency lies at the root of ambition to excel. The great 
fact about farmers in this connection is that in spite of 
natural differences and inequalities, there is a certain 



THE NEW DEMOCRACY 223 

friendliness, common dealing and mutual understand- 
ing in American farm life that is not duplicated any- 
where else. In a typical and prosperous farming re- 
gion, say of the Middle West, we get as much democ- 
racy in the social sense as we will ever get anywhere. 

We must recognize that the last decades have, how- 
ever, seen the beginnings of a possible stratification of 
farmers which may soon become a real menace. Its 
sharpest challenge is the widening chasm in wealth, in- 
telligence and interest, between the fortunate and effi- 
cient farmer of high-priced fertile land, and the dis- 
couraged, transient tenant who tries without capital, 
without credit and sometimes without either intelligence 
or foresight, to make his living from the soil. 

Will farmers use experts? This is one of the most 
important questions in a democracy. The old idea of 
democracy stressed the notion that all men are equal. 
Consequently the average man might be considered ca- 
pable of performing all the offices of democracy. This 
doctrine has a powerful hold upon the American 
farmer. It is born in part of a wrong idea of democ- 
racy and in part of good sense. Democracy does not 
level all men to the same talent — some have ten tal- 
ents and some have but one. It is mischievous to hold 
that the man without special fitness or even without 
special training can do a certain.piece of work as well 
as the one who has fitness or training or both. In 
other words, the expert or specialist is just as important 
in a democracy as he is in a highly organized autocratic 
state. On the other hand, specialists are fallible and 
sometimes narrow. The farmers are using experts 
probably more freely on the whole than is any other 
group of people. The agents of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture and members of the staff of 



224 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

agricultural colleges and schools and the county agents 
employed by the farm bureaus, as they go in and out 
among the farmers, have won their respect and regard 
in performing for the farmers a very real service. 
Thus far, however, the use of the agricultural specialist 
'3 found chiefly in the field of production, but he must 
be utilized also in helping to solve the great problems of 
distribution of food and of country life. It is unfor- 
tunate that during the war the fairly large, well-trained, 
clear-headed group of agricultural economists in this 
country has not been utilized in connection with the 
food supply program to anything like the extent that 
they should have been. We still have a long way to go 
in making democracy efficient. The farmers, however, 
are more and more willing to follow the advice of the 
agricultural specialists. 

Will the farmer lose his strength as an individual in 
a more compact organization of agriculture? There is 
danger, no doubt. Organization, it is clear, does tend 
to submerge the individual, but only where organiza- 
tion is faulty. True organization means the best pos- 
sible utilization of all the factors that are available, and 
of course the biggest possible man is a prime factor in 
any enterprise. In other words, if organization is used 
merely to get material and immediate results without 
regard to what happens to the individuals concerned, 
then it is faulty and bad. But true organization takes 
a long look ahead and values the growth of a man more 
than it values his product. 

Should farmers go into politics in order to aid de- 
mocracy? Politics is really only a means to an end. 
We assume the need of honest and efficient government, 
but that is or should be merely a matter of good ma- 
chinery. Laws and their administration deal funda- 



THE NEW DEMOCRACY 225 

mentally with two main human interests, the distribu- 
tion of wealth and the increase of general welfare. 
Now if the farmers are to have their share of wealth 
and if they are to obtain for themselves and their fam- 
ilies all the opportunities for welfare that they deserve, 
they may have to bring pressure to bear upon state and 
national legislation. Permanently, there can scarcely 
be a place for a farmers' political party, but there will 
probably always be a place for a fighting farmers' or- 
ganization. To this extent, farmers must go into poli- 
tics. 

We must not fail to realize that the development of 
the real local rural community is pretty much the key 
to a successful democracy in rural affairs. Over and 
over again should be emphasized the fact that this local 
community has in it all the possibilities of democracy. 
It is, indeed, the unit of democracy. 

And finally, is there any relation between democracy 
and Christianity? The most ardent supporter of de- 
mocracy ought to be the church. True democracy is 
but the application of the principles of brotherhood to 
the work and life of the people. It would be a great 
gain if those who are interested in securing industrial 
and social democracy for farmers could clasp hands 
with those who seek to fully Christianize all rural com- 
munities. A true and full democracy is identical with 
the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. 



CHAPTER XIII 

AN AMERICAN PROGRAM OF RURAL 
RECONSTRUCTION x 

The American farmer has never failed to meet all the 
issues of the highest patriotism. In days of peace, he 
has done his full share in the conquest of a continent for 
man's use, in helping to feed the world, in perpetuat- 
ing and extending free institutions of government, uni- 
versal education, and ideals of a high morality in home 
and community. In times of war, though a lover of 
peace, he has responded to the need of the hour with 
promptness and effectiveness. At Concord, he " fired 
the shot heard round the world." In our Civil war 
men of the soil on both sides formed the majority of 
the fighting forces; to-day their sons and grandsons are 
in France. In the present crisis the farmer has rallied 
to the call for labor and sacrifice in his own field of 
work. He has enlarged his acreage of crops and 
sought, under great difficulties, to increase his yields. 
He has fed his own armies as well as the civil popula- 
tions of his allies. 

In common with the men in other great classes of our 
people who have believed themselves handicapped in 
their work and life, the American farmer has felt the 
recent stirrings of important changes in world affairs. 
He realizes that the war has been fought for a truer 
freedom, a more real democracy. He has faith that 
the common man is to have a better chance; that the 

1 This chapter is in some sort a summary of the whole book; con- 
sequently, many apparent repetitions occur. 

226 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 227 

vital privileges of the few are to spread to the many; 
that the competent are to share with the less compe- 
tent; that the masses of the people are to have larger 
responsibility and more effective voice in determining 
not alone their methods of government, but the condi- 
tions under which they work and live. He is conscious 
that men of all races, realizing the flaws in their mode 
of living together, are determined to plan a better civ- 
ilization, to reconstruct, if necessary, the very founda- 
tions as well as the superstructure of society. 

The American farmer insists that as a matter of mere 
justice he shall become a beneficiary of this proposed re- 
building of human institutions. He is not willing to 
admit that it is a problem which concerns only or even 
chiefly the so-called " laboring classes." He himself 
is a laborer, a member of a group of industrial workers 
more numerous than those of any other great occupa- 
tion. He is aware that in some countries the farmers 
outnumber all other workers combined. His work is 
fundamental to all other work. He not only feeds the 
world, but he furnishes vast quantities of raw material 
out of which are fabricated clothing and similar indis- 
pensable supplies. Poor farming in any nation is dis- 
astrous to its industry, and disadvantaged farmers are 
a menace to any civilization. Moreover, the rural peo- 
ples have a contribution to make to a better form of 
society. Country life of the right sort breeds men and 
women who hold firmly to ideals of freedom, of thrift, 
of moral responsibility. The farmer's voice then 
should be heard in all councils designed to discuss and 
provide for social reconstruction. He has a right to be 
heard where his interests are at stake and a duty to act 
where his service can forward the progress of hu- 
manity. 



228 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



THE FARMER S HANDICAPS 

The chief complaint of the American farmer is that 
his class as a whole does not receive an adequate finan- 
cial return for capital used and labor expended. In 
every farming community there are prosperous farm- 
ers; and there are entire regions in which, at least dur- 
ing the past two decades, probably a substantial major- 
ity of the farmers have made a reasonable profit. But 
the net income of perhaps five millions of the seven mil- 
lions of farmers of the country is pitifully inadequate 
for meeting even the minimum needs of a family in civ- 
ilized society. This is not all. There exists a uni- 
versal belief among our farmers, a conviction sub- 
stantiated by economists, that few farmers receive for 
their products that share of the retail price which a 
sound and economical system of distribution would give 
them. This lack of due reward is not the whole of 
the rural problem, but it is the most serious specific 
defect in agricultural affairs. 

Some of the farmer's difficulties are chargeable to 
the nature of the industry. Nature furnishes the essen- 
tials of crop and animal production — soil, moisture, 
air, light, heat, fertilizing materials. But from the 
same source come flood, drought, extreme heat and un- 
timely frost, pests and diseases of plant and animal, 
hail, lightning, and tornado. It is true that in those 
areas which men have found immediately adaptable to 
agriculture, through a series of years and with respect 
to most crops at all suitable for given regions, " fair 
crops " are quite certain. But for the individual 
farmer or for whole groups of farmers or for specified 
crops, the uncertainties of yield are not only proverbial 
but disconcerting, if not serious. Farmers do business 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 229 

on so small a capital and so slight a margin, that one 
season's failure often measures the difference between 
success and failure in the enterprise. In a country of 
rapidly increasing population and cheap land a great 
deal of relatively inferior land comes into use. Inevit- 
ably the farmers on this land feel at times the pinch of 
untoward circumstances. The isolation of the farmer 
as an individual and of the farming class as a group, 
brings in its train certain handicaps in the way of inade- 
quate information, difficulties in collective effort, sepa- 
rateness of interest, and sometimes narrowness of out- 
look. 

It would be idle to deny that some of the farmer's 
troubles are due largely to his own deficiencies. Farm- 
ers are of all degrees of capacity. Sheer ignorance, 
unwarranted prejudices, undue conservatism, unwilling- 
ness to cooperate, unwise use of land, inferior business 
management, mere poverty of neighborhood life and 
incentive due to lack of vision and of ambition — these 
have all played their part in the drama of rural dis- 
couragement. But it is equally true that farmers have 
been subject to an unusual extent to certain handicaps 
that arise from social arrangements. It is, for exam- 
ple, becoming more and more difficult for the landless 
farmer to secure land and requisite capital for the best 
use of land on terms that give him a fair chance for 
eventual ownership. The existing system of distribut- 
ing food products from farm to household is in many 
respects exceedingly efficient; it is also in many ways 
costly and wasteful. But the principal charge to be 
brought against it is that it has been organized entirely 
apart from the interests of the producers, and often 
with the apparent purpose of deliberately crowding the 
farmer to terms that represent his dire need rather than 



2 3 o THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

his just reward. In general the present system of dis- 
tribution of soil-grown products is the main handicap 
of the American farmer. About this cluster many sub- 
sidiary difficulties. The system also illustrates another 
serious disadvantage. Farming originally was an in- 
dividual business. As a producing factor it is likely to 
remain so to a very large extent; but gradually the 
farmer's market has come to be a highly organized, 
widespread and complex affair. The single farmer 
finds himself dealing in both purchase and sale with 
great combinations of men and capital, and often in 
competition with millions of fellow farmers similarly 
situated. His products are bought, manufactured, 
stored, transported, sold to jobbers and to retailers, 
and even to ultimate consumers, by powerfully organ- 
ized agencies. These agencies are financed by banks 
whose interest in the farmer is only incidental. The 
place of foodstuffs in foreign trade is rarely determined 
by the farmers themselves. And a crowning handi- 
cap is that the farmer is seldom represented, even in- 
directly, in those groups that determine governmental, 
business or social arrangements affecting his well-being 
or in which he has the interest common to citizenship 
in a democracy. It would be utterly misleading to 
assert that the American farmer has been neglected by 
his government, but it is perfectly evident that govern- 
ment has quite failed at two points. It has not that 
close working contact with all the interests of all the 
farmers that it should have, and it has not correlated 
even its own activities into a large, far-sighted, well in- 
formed, unified program of endeavor for rural im- 
provement. 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 231 



THE NEED OF A NEW AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

The older policies in agricultural development must 
give way to a much wider and far-reaching effort to 
lessen these handicaps of the farmer. First of all we 
must accurately know the handicaps under which the 
farmer works, to what extent his difficulties are due to 
causes within or beyond his personal control, and what 
are due to inequities in his relations with other classes 
of citizens. We need wider knowledge of rural re- 
sources — physical, economic, social — and how best 
to conserve them. It is vital to a full rural develop- 
ment that the ends to be attained shall be clearly stated 
and universally understood. To rely for progress 
merely upon the individual initiative, intelligence, and 
power of seven millions of farmers is to court disaster. 
We must invoke collective effort. We must use recog- 
nized social machinery, such as government and vol- 
untary associations. These agencies must be efficient 
for their purpose and loyal to rural interests. No one 
agency can meet all the needs of rural development. 
Each must recognize and define its peculiar task and be- 
come as effective as possible for that service. All rural 
agencies, all groups and all individuals interested in 
rural affairs must work together intelligently and fra- 
ternally in an effort to contribute each its share to the 
advancement of the common aims of all. 

All these elements of a rural policy meet at one com- 
mon point of contact, that is, in a definite and compre- 
hensive program for the fullest possible development 
of American agriculture and country life. The need 
for such a program was apparent before the war; the 
war has made the need startlingly clear. For amelior- 
ating natural handicaps and dispelling ignorance, as 



232 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

well as for abolishing unjust discriminations, we need 
all the wisdom, expert knowledge, skill, judgment, that 
are available. We have at present no large unified 
plan for making these factors fully available, nor even 
for determining the nature of the problems involved. 
We need therefore an American agricultural program 
embodying a plan as big as the problem and so practical 
that it may apply to every region, every type of farm- 
ing, and to substantially every need of every farmer. 

A NEW STARTING POINT 

The war has made clear the need of a fundamental 
change in the attitude of both producers and consumers 
of soil-grown products, as well as in the point of view of 
the distributing interests and of government itself. 
Heretofore agricultural questions seemed to revolve 
about the need of increased production as an end in 
itself. It was assumed that all the soil produced would 
be used. But the arrangements by which America has 
contributed its share to the war-made demands for food 
have implied a direct relationship of an international 
need for food to an international supply of food. It 
has become evident that this relationship is not broken 
as the war closes. The problem of supplying the 
world's food will be one of universal concern. It will 
involve the reconstruction of national economy and of 
international trade arrangements. The world's food 
supply must therefore be the central question about 
which will cluster the matters of more immediate con- 
cern to farmers — what kind of food is wanted, how 
much of it and in what form, where can it best be pro- 
duced? The character of national dietaries should be 
determined on a thoroughly scientific basis and an effort 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 233 

made to educate consumers to intelligent use of food as 
well as the utmost effort to avoid waste. 

The farmer stands ready to revise his plans, if neces- 
sary, in order to meet this new departure in the world's 
agriculture. He recognizes the increasing degree in 
which non-producers of food and other soil-grown prod- 
ucts are dependent upon him. He sees in this inde- 
pendence solemn obligation laid upon him as the trustee 
of the soil, the steward of an adequate food supply. 
He realizes his duty not only to grow food, but to grow 
it with utmost economy and skill, and to be mindful that 
he does not waste those resources of soil fertility which 
are a permanent asset of society. But the farmer in- 
sists that he shall receive a fair return for his capital 
and labor. The demand for cheap food should not be 
carried so far as to produce a class of farmers who 
suffer from wholly inadequate incomes. The farmer's 
right to a living wage is as valid as that of any one else. 
Consumers should realize the economic conditions of 
the profitable production of food; few of them appre- 
ciate the unquestioned fact that they have been " living 
off the unrewarded labor of farm women and children." 
While the economic task of supplying the world with 
food must be considered as a whole, the producers 
should have both full consideration and proper repre- 
sentation in all those discussions and organized ar- 
rangements that deal with the problem as a unit or with 
any part of it. 

ACCESS TO THE LAND 

A true democracy requires that the man who tills the 
land shall control the land he tills. Control involves 
not merely the welfare of the man who for a brief time 



234 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

uses the land, but calls for the best possible use of the 
land, the growing of what consumers want, and the ut- 
most conservation of fertility. The economic freedom 
of the soil-tiller is not only the first term in a perma- 
nently efficient agriculture; it is the unquestioned right 
of the farmer as a member of society. Any approach 
to economic bondage is to be deprecated, as is also any 
arrangement that limits the activities, choices, privi- 
leges or rewards of farmers, beyond those inherent in a 
world of fallible men seeking self-interest, but ready to 
concede a common interest. Ownership of the agricul- 
tural land by those who work it is preferable to any 
other plan. But if for any reason such a policy is in- 
applicable in all cases, there should be organized a sys- 
tem of leasing by which the tenant receives some of the 
advantages of ownership as well as of its moral obliga- 
tions. A tenant should have an opportunity to secure 
long lease, and should be able legally to gain credit for 
improvements he has made. The pathway from ten- 
ancy to ownership should be made easy. There is no 
permanent place in America for the absentee landlord, 
even if he be a retired farmer, yet we must not fail to 
provide a career on the land for the man of superior 
ability, the large farmer, provided he farms the land he 
owns. 

For nearly a century the American land policy has 
been to provide new land for newcomers at a nominal 
or small cost. The free land of high quality is gone. 
There are however many millions of acres of dry, wet, 
sandy and stony lands that can be reclaimed for use. 
The farmers object to the improvement of this unused 
land until it is actually needed. It would be well to 
make accurate and detailed studies of these lands; but 
no steps should be taken to bring them into competi- 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 235 

tion with improved lands until the need is clear. The 
farmers insist that these improvements, when under- 
taken, should be performed by the government, in or- 
der that exploitation for private profit shall be elim- 
inated. Essential features of the development of new 
land should include provision for the easy acquiring of 
adequate capital for operation and the establishment of 
effective machinery for satisfactory marketing of prod- 
ucts and purchase of farm requirements. 

SECURING CAPITAL 

When the new land was all but free and little farm 
machinery was used, the farmer's capital was almost lit- 
erally his own strong hands and active brain. But 
present and prospective prices for land, and the cost of 
necessary improvements and machinery, require consid- 
erable capital. Doubtless the majority of farmers are 
farming with too little capital. Under modern condi- 
tions the securing of capital means credit. Until re- 
cently the financial methods of the country were not 
geared to the peculiar needs of the farmer. The Farm 
Land Bank system goes a long way in the direction of 
proper terms of aid; it does not however fully meet the 
situation, chiefly because it does not and cannot aid the 
tenant or laborer until he has saved a substantial sum; 
this is often hard to do. There is a gulf here that 
needs bridging. The only relief seems to lie in a form 
of direct government loan to men of approved charac- 
ter, to enable them to take advantage of the Farm Land 
Bank. 

Moreover it takes more capital than formerly to 
" make " a crop, especially as various forms of inten- 
sive farming increase. Better seed, more fertilizer, 
better tillage, more labor, commercial feeds for live- 



236 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

stock add to the initial cost. Many farmers are 
obliged to borrow in order to secure these require- 
ments, and the loan usually takes the form of mercantile 
or " store " credit. Unfortunately, there are thou- 
sands of farmers who are obliged to seek similar credit 
during the crop-growing season for household supplies. 
Mercantile credit at its worst is sheer robbery, and 
even at its best has two serious drawbacks. Actual 
interest charges are likely to be high, if not exorbitant, 
and are elusive because hidden in the price. Pressure 
for payment tends to compel the grower to sell his prod- 
uct at the bidding of his creditor — almost inevitably 
to the farmer's disadvantage. Our farmers should 
have a system that suits the need for short term credit 
for making crops to best advantage. 

In all forms of credit to farmers two principles 
should be more fully recognized by farmers themselves, 
by bankers and by the government: The great possi- 
bilities of capitalizing character, by which a man's in- 
dustry and integrity become a substantial collateral for 
loans; and the financial power of the collective assets 
of a community of farmers, once all its members are 
willing to share in a common financial responsibility. 

There is a form of assistance to farmers, of vastly 
increasing importance, theoretically belonging partly in 
the domain of natural resources and being partly a mat- 
ter of credit, while practically it involves the efficiency 
of government. The use by farmers of various forms 
of mechanical power is destined to be a large factor 
in their enterprise. Public control of water, not merely 
for irrigation but also for power, is indispensable. 
The use of electricity on the farm and for the develop- 
ment of community manufactures and similar services, 
must not be dependent upon the accidents of corporate 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 237 

convenience. Collective methods of handling this 
question by farming communities will prove economical 
but must have legislative encouragement. 

FARM LABOR 

The use of machinery decreases the need for farm 
labor but does not eliminate it; and it increases the de- 
mand for skilled labor. The call for labor in other 
industries, with apparently higher wages, shorter hours 
and more sociable conditions of life, competes most 
seriously with the farm. Farm boys are longer in 
school than formerly and we would not have it other- 
wise. Neither are we prepared to urge a large use of 
woman's labor on the land as a permanent feature. 
The seasonal need for labor on all but stock farms is 
another difficulty. Altogether, the farm labor prob- 
lem is perhaps the most serious which the farmer must 
face. 

Some remedies seem clear enough, but how to secure 
actual relief is another matter. Evidently, as a prin- 
ciple, the farmer must gain access to the world's labor 
and procure his share of it. To do this, he must pay- 
such wages and grant such terms as will make him a 
competitor with other industries. The housing and 
other living conditions of the laborer must be in keeping 
with modern requirements for comfort, convenience 
and health. More machinery must be used for more 
purposes. Skilled and even trained farm labor must 
prevail. All this requires such prices for his products 
that the farmer can afford the necessary labor cost. 
Ideally it implies also a transient farm labor group, 
whose members, skilled, intelligent and ambitious, will 
rapidly pass up to tenantry and ownership of land. 
This problem can be met only as the government, 



238 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

cooperating with powerful associations of farmers, 
shall study this difficulty thoroughly and seek to handle 
it in terms of some large, nation-wide policy. 

PROBLEMS OF PRODUCTION 

The character of the problems which confront the 
farmer in his work of producing crops and animals is 
fairly well understood. The farmers themselves have 
been on the whole keen to improve methods and they 
have had far more aid from scientists in this field than 
in any other. Preparing the soil, cultivating, fertiliz- 
ing, adapting it to certain plants; increasing crop yields 
and improving quality by seed selection; seeking better 
varieties; constant improvement of farm animals by 
breeding, feeding and attention to health; protecting 
both crops and animals against diseases and pests — we 
are dealing with all these needs. The requirements of 
the future are a greatly enlarged and better correlated 
national system of research into fundamental scientific 
principles, a wiser and more wide-spread testing of the- 
ories in actual farm practice on a commercial scale, and 
far better organized educational " drives " or " pro- 
jects " for bringing not only the mind but also the will 
of the farmers to practice the best methods. 

FARM MANAGEMENT 

Farming, even to-day and by great masses of farm- 
ers, is thought of chiefly as growing crops and animals. 
Only slowly have we come to realize that the good 
farmer is actually not only a skillful handler of soil, 
plant and animal, but that he is also a good manager. 
Genuine business skill, executive ability, the power to 
organize all the factors of the farm into a unity, prob- 
ably are far more important than any other one ele- 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 239 

ment. Failure here is much more frequent than poor 
practice. Most unsuccessful farmers cannot manage. 
Such questions as size of farm, amount of capital 
needed, laying out of the farm itself, kind and conven- 
ience of buildings, saving motions in labor operations, 
filling in idle hours, keeping of accounts, economical 
buying and skillful selling, wise reinvestments of profits 
— these are matters too much neglected by many farm- 
ers. An adequate system of investigation and popular 
education is called for. 

THE DISTRIBUTION PROBLEM 

Here we reach the real core of the farm problem on 
its business side. Frequently a farmer finds a whole 
season's labor gone for naught, because he must sell at 
a price that barely meets the expenditures for mere 
growing of the crop. He has little voice in establish- 
ing the price. There are two fundamental difficulties 
which the farmer faces. The price of his products is 
determined largely by variations in the supply due 
mainly to the weather and to fluctuations in acreage. 
Then, again, the individual farmer sells and buys in 
organized markets. He pits himself against combina- 
tions of men and capital, and his struggle is futile. 
Production is a matter of the individual farm and the 
amount is negligible in any market. He may have 
neither knowledge, skill nor facilities for meeting the 
requirements of the market as to condition and form of 
product. The small farmer cannot sort, grade, pack, 
store or transport to advantage. It happens, there- 
fore, that the price he gets may have no relation what- 
ever to cost of production; often it has no relation to 
true market values. 

It has been the habit of farmers for many years to 



2 4 o THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

charge their disappointments in marketing to the mid- 
dleman. Even the complete abolition of middlemen is 
advocated as a prime remedy. Rascally or incompe- 
tent handlers of farmers' products there have been a 
plenty. Doubtless there are too many distributing 
agencies. But middlemen are indispensable; they have 
a real economic function. 

Transportation obviously plays a vital part in the 
marketing of farm products. Poor highways have cost 
and are costing our farmers millions of dollars. Rail- 
way freight charges have frequently been purely arbi- 
trary, bearing slight relations to cost of service. 
Farmers living near a large market are obliged to pay 
as much for transporting their products as is paid by the 
grower in a far distant place. Over-competition be- 
tween different farm regions has resulted. The reship- 
ment of both raw and manufactured farm products has 
built up transportation charges enormous in the aggre- 
gate. 

The farmers demand, therefore, a thorough reor- 
ganization of the entire business of selling farm prod- 
ucts, in the interests of both the farmers and the con- 
sumers. There should be full standardization and the 
utmost economy in all the processes of marketing. 
Harvesting, collecting, grading, packing, storing, trans- 
porting, and city distributing should be submitted to 
well-organized and efficiently managed enterprises. A 
well-planned effort should be inaugurated to adapt each 
natural agricultural area to its best possible uses. To 
such an extent as is practicable, consuming centers, even 
large villages and small cities, should be provided with 
their food products from the farms adjacent. The lo- 
cal manufacture or other preparation of farm products 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 241 

should be encouraged as a possible economy in trans- 
portation. 

For these ends, we must rely first of all upon existing 
agencies. The present machinery of preparation and 
distribution of soil-grown products should if possible be 
socialized, made to serve more fully the mutual interest 
of producers and consumers. Those private establish- 
ments that deal with the slaughter and distribution of 
meat products; grain elevators and mills; cotton gins; 
sugar factories; and all other converters of farm prod- 
ucts into forms for consumption; storage and ware- 
house concerns; commission men and all wholesale and 
retail distributors must bend to the demand for service 
in the public interest. The farmer insists that the nor- 
mal and legitimate machinery of the market shall not be 
prostituted to merely speculative or gambling methods. 

It is beyond question that such ends can be gained 
only by intelligent, fair, but rigid control by adequate 
law and administrative rule. It may also require a 
measure of government ownership and management. 
The American farmer will not ask government for this 
service if it can be given through private agencies. 
But he will insist that it be given. And if the aid of 
government must be invoked, he will not be deterred 
from his demands by fears of any theory of social or- 
ganization. He wants fair dealing, substantial justice 
in this realm where his very existence is at stake. 

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AMONG FARMERS 

Farmers are coming to realize more keenly that in 
the long run, the responsibility for a reasonable finan- 
cial return for their labor depends upon themselves 
rather than upon the attitude of other interests or upon 



242 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

government itself. The individual farmer is well-nigh 
helpless in dealing with a world-market. But the col- 
lective business power of seven million farmers, intel- 
ligently and fairly applied, is almost irresistible. 

The independent farmer has preferred to bargain 
for himself. In the old days, and in some cases even 
now, this was advantageous. But as a rule the farmer 
has no chance to make a good bargain. It is only as 
he shares with a group of fellow farmers the responsi- 
bilities of proper preparation of products for market, 
and participates in the pooling of sufficient quantities to 
constitute a unit of product large enough to attract at- 
tention on the market, that he becomes relatively inde- 
pendent. Only then has he any chance to make a real 
bargain, a fair trade. No legislation designed to con- 
trol corporations dealing in farm products, no aid, sub- 
sidy or other form of governmental enterprise, how- 
ever necessary and useful, can take the place of the es- 
tablishment of a wide-spread organization of producing 
farmers into groups fitted to buy, sell and otherwise to 
do business cooperatively. 

It becomes necessary then for the American farmer 
to move rapidly toward such a form of effort as will 
enable him to join hands with his fellows in all legiti- 
mate and reasonable methods of collective bargaining. 
National and state legislation should not only fully rec- 
ognize but frankly encourage this method of associa- 
tion. Agricultural colleges and schools should inves- 
tigate and teach the best methods of business coopera- 
tion in agriculture. Government agencies should be 
provided to assist by advice, information, law enforce- 
ment and, if necessary, by advances on stored products. 
Government should ensure a free field for cooperative 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 243 

effort among farmers and prevent discrimination by 
railways, middlemen or others. 

AGRICULTURAL INSURANCE OR STABILIZATION 

Great variations occur from year to year both in 
amount of farm products and in their market value. 
Diseases and pests, " bad " weather, climatic catastro- 
phes, speculation in food products, forced sales due to 
inadequate capital, market gluts, all play their part in 
this unstability. An adequate program of rural recon- 
struction requires the consideration of the feasibility of 
establishing stabilizing influences and devices that will 
tend to reduce the element of mere chance in the food- 
producing process. Such a movement is in the interest 
of consumers as well as producers. There should be 
an effort, through government aid and supervision, and 
partly by large cooperative associations of farmers 
themselves, to secure the adjustment of acreages to de- 
mand. Government should also encourage regional 
self-support in certain products; crop insurance against 
diseases, pests, hail, drought, wind, lightning, frost, 
flood, and animal insurance; more opportunities for 
short term credit for purchasing supplies needed in 
high-grade production; advances to farmers in products 
in storage; progressive release of stocks as needed by 
the market; full market news service. 

AGRICULTURE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE 

The interests of the American farmer not only call 
for an adjustment of his business to the world's demand 
for products of the soil, but require such an adjustment 
of all the parts of trade relations among nations as 
shall be just to him. It is fundamental that in every 



244 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

country agriculture shall be regarded as a primary in- 
dustry, to be as fully cherished and protected as any 
other industry. Elementary economic principles, how- 
ever, assert the unwisdom of carrying this process so 
far as to seek complete national independence in soil- 
grown products. It is perhaps possible for each coun- 
try to feed itself, but is it wise for it to do so? The 
world's food should be grown where it can be grown to 
best advantage to the world as a whole. If manufac- 
tured goods are sold in countries largely agricultural, 
they must be paid for chiefly in farm products, which in 
turn must compete with those grown at home. Ex- 
change of goods among nations makes for economic 
prosperity as well as for permanent peace. The Amer- 
ican farmer is willing to cooperate in a world system of 
fair trade. But he insists that agriculture must be fully 
considered in all international trade arrangements. It 
is merely justice that proposals for tariffs, subsidies, 
preferential arrangements should be made only after 
thorough study has revealed their prospective bearings 
upon American agriculture, and only with the consent 
of the American farmer 

AN ADEQUATE SYSTEM OF RURAL EDUCATION 

The United States has been singularly alert in the 
development of plans for agricultural education. The 
federal Department of Agriculture, the great sister- 
hood of state agricultural colleges and experiment sta- 
tions, and the wonderful system of extension education 
just now evolving through the cooperation of these 
agencies with the county farm bureaus, comprise a 
scheme of educational activities on behalf of the farmer 
unapproached elsewhere in the world. Yet we have 
not secured all that we need. The farmer himself has 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 245 

abundant faith in education as a solvent of his diffi- 
culties, and he demands that agricultural education shall 
not only be completely democratized and adapted to the 
last man on the land, but that it shall be as broad in its 
content as the entire range of the rural problem. 
There should be in the early future a very large in- 
crease in the number of agricultural schools. Even- 
tually, these schools, meeting the needs of boys from 
14 to 18 years of age and designed chiefly as finishing 
schools, must be relied upon to furnish the big majority 
of school-trained farmers. The control or regulatory 
tasks in agricultural enterprises carried on by the state 
should be more carefully separated from its educa- 
tional work. The agricultural colleges cannot fulfill 
their true mission to American farmers unless they seek 
and secure a vast enlargement of both their investiga- 
tional and teaching work in the realms of the economic 
and social problems of agriculture. The present di- 
vided administrative responsibilities for schemes of 
agricultural education should be coordinated in some 
fashion, so that we may have a truly national system of 
agricultural education. At present the United States 
Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Education, 
the federal and state boards of vocational education, 
the agricultural colleges, state commissioners or boards 
of education, county farm bureaus, local public school 
authorities, and in some cases independent agricultural 
schools, are all involved in managing educational en- 
terprises on behalf of agriculture. They should be 
brought into the closest cooperation. The system as 
a unit must make its utmost contribution to the solution 
of all phases of the rural problem. It must do all that 
education can do for the farmer. A great degree of 
centralization is necessary with regard to a large gen- 



246 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

eral policy in research, in relating parts of the system to 
one another and to the whole, and particularly in ex- 
tension teaching. But bureaucratic methods should be 
avoided and the widest liberty recognized as a right of 
the local establishment. 

The rural school system needs a complete overhaul- 
ing. First of all, we should have a national rural 
school policy and program, formulated by educators in 
close sympathy with rural affairs, but with the approval 
of representative farmers. In most states a larger 
measure of state aid for small schools will be found 
necessary. The American farmer believes in the es- 
sential justice of the dictum, " All the wealth of the 
state must be available for the education of all the chil- 
dren in the state." The country child is entitled to as 
good an education as the city child. We may find that 
appropriations from the federal treasury are necessary 
in order to secure adequate state support and full recog- 
nition of rural school needs. There is little doubt that 
the consolidated school offers manifest advantages over 
the traditional one-room district school and should soon 
become the prevailing type of rural school. Better 
paid and better trained teachers, greater permanence of 
tenure of teaching, closer and more consistent super- 
vision, redirection of studies to meet the peculiar needs 
of rural pupils, are essential to efficiency. One of the 
most serious defects in our rural school system is the 
lack of good high schools. Provision should also be 
made for continuation or part time schools. More- 
over, the schools should be used as centers for adult 
study through lecture courses, reading clubs, study 
clubs, correspondence courses; they should minister to a 
great advance of solid study and thinking among the 
farmers and their families, not only on agricultural 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 247 

themes, but in the fields of citizenship and of literature 
and art. The entire farming community should be per- 
petually at school. 

The function of education in a rural democracy 
should be conceived in no narrowly vocational or ma- 
terialistic spirit. The making of more efficient farm- 
ers is one great end to keep in view, but it is only a part 
of the need. Farm bred boys and girls must have the 
same chance to secure an adequate education for city 
occupations that they should have to study agriculture. 
City bred boys and girls should have the chance to learn 
farming if they care to. There must be no class or 
caste lines developed by our educational system. Un- 
derstanding of the entire farm problem, appreciation of 
the importance of a satisfying country life, love of the 
land, a sense of the farmer's duties as well as his rights, 
delight in good literature, clearness of thinking about 
all the problems of democracy at home and abroad — 
these should be the fruit of a well-planned system of 
rural education. Leaders, too, must be trained for 
rural service. Agricultural experts must be educated 
and given a place to work. A rural democracy can be 
efficient and free only through education. 

THE VOICE OF AGRICULTURE 

One of the most enduring results of an adequate 
system of rural education should be seen in the increas- 
ing ability of the farmers to maintain their ground in 
all those councils in which their interests are discussed 
and decided. It should be a fundamental principle that 
no state or national legislation, no project of a pub- 
licly supported agency involving the cooperation or the 
larger interests of the farmers, no enterprise in- 
augurated by associations of a general business or urban 



248 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

character, should be launched until authorized repre- 
sentatives of the farmers have been consulted. A huge 
scheme for reclaiming great areas of new agricultural 
land involves added competition. Laws taxing land 
improvements put a burden upon thrift and tax pro- 
ductive power. Even the legitimate organization of 
labor may disregard the farmer's welfare. If the com- 
monwealth deems social amelioration to be sound pol- 
icy, it should be adapted to the needs of the farmers. 
The extension or restriction of foreign trade affects 
agriculture profoundly. Consumers of food have a 
right to cooperate in order to save in purchase price, 
but they should understand the terms of a fair bargain 
with food producers. Right-minded farmers welcome 
the aid of the individuals and associations of the cities, 
but resent condescension or philanthropy — "benevo- 
lent urbanism." If there should be a struggle between 
a demand for cheap food and the resulting danger of 
putting cheap men on the land, the interests of farm as 
well as of the nation as a whole would be against too 
cheap food. Farmers cannot afford to agree to a 
scheme that brings into activity more producers of 
food than are needed or that causes loss of profits to 
those already on farms. Under a system of utmost 
economy in food distribution, the farmer must share the 
gain with the consumer. The country village and 
small city must cease to exploit the farmers of the sur- 
rounding country. Immigration laws must consider 
the country as well as the city. These are but a few of 
the many interests of the American farmer that are 
habitually disregarded, usually in sheer ignorance 
rather than of intent, but largely because the farmers 
do not have authoritative spokesmen in close touch 
with the men and the agencies that determine policies 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 249 

in fields of effort that involve agricultural interests. 

But it is not alone with respect to his own interests 
that the American farmer needs a place at the council- 
table. Rural public opinion should share in national 
and even international affairs. The farmer should 
speak his views concerning the need and terms of 
permanent world peace, the policies of trade and of 
treaties, all economic, political and social arrangements. 
He is an organic part of the structure of society. His 
is the most numerous class. His views, his ideals, his 
ways of thinking should have full weight in the common 
concerns of all mankind. A full democracy cannot 
develop unless the farmer makes his special contribu- 
tion, and this he can not do if he is voiceless in the 
counsels of democracy. 

There are two main channels through which must 
ebb and flow the tides of rural endeavor both in assist- 
ing farmers to solve their particular problems and in 
receiving from farmers their special contribution to 
the world's welfare. One is government, including 
legislation as well as all those agencies of regulation 
and education that receive public support; the other is 
mutual association, by which farmers band themselves 
into groups large and small for their common welfare. 

THE GOVERNMENT AND AGRICULTURE 

It is maintained by some students that there is an 
increasing tendency among all people to regard govern- 
ment or the state as a sort of huge person that stands 
out apart from people as individuals. This person 
has great power, makes its own morality, must be 
obeyed. Sometimes this idea is carried so far that the 
state assumes a morality of its own, denying the appli- 
cation to its acts of the laws of personal righteousness; 



250 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

on the other hand individuals may cheat the state if 
they can. But what seems to be a better conception of 
government is that it is simply all of us together seek- 
ing through common activities the highest good of all. 
Compulsion may be necessary as a means of securing 
the support of the thoughtless, the ignorant and the 
willful. But the essential idea is one of common ac- 
tion for the common good. Laws are merely expres- 
sions of the common will for the common wealth and 
the common welfare. It seems clear that a true democ- 
racy must hold firmly to the idea of government that 
regards it as merely one of the ways in which people 
act together for mutual interests. 

This distinction in attitude toward government is 
vital. There is much discussion about what govern- 
ment should do and should not do. If government is 
a superman, a separate power, something above and 
beyond the all-of-us-together, then we may well insist 
on limitations to its activities and requirements. But 
if it is truly the rule of the people its activities are to be 
judged purely by their effectiveness. We are not to 
urge that government do this or do that merely because 
we have a blind faith in some superior wisdom residing 
in the state; nor do we refuse to ask government to do 
other things merely because we fear socialism or any 
other " ism." There are but two questions to be an- 
swered when governmental activities are up for con- 
sideration: (i) On the whole is governmental ac- 
tivity — whether law or regulation or management or 
actual ownership — most effective in gaining the ends 
which the people really want and need? and (2) in the 
longer view does this activity make the people them- 
selves stronger or weaker in foresight, judgment, ini- 
tiative and general intelligence? 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 251 

If this view of government is truly the democratic 
view, then what such a government shall do for agri- 
culture and country life must meet the tests of these 
two questions just asked. The answers vary from dec- 
ade to decade. What may be well for government to 
do to-day may perhaps better be left to-morrow to 
mutual associations. In the immediate future, in the 
days of reconstruction that must follow the close of 
the great war, certain demands upon government may 
fairly be made by the American farmer. 

Government may well foster agriculture to the ut- 
termost. The food supply is fundamental. Food is 
now produced and will always be produced by a vast 
number of small, more or less scattered producers. 
Self-help through associated effort is more difficult for 
this group than with any other large class of people. 
Government can not remain indifferent to the needs of 
agriculture. It might well be justified in doing more 
for agriculture than for any other industry. 

Emphasis has already been laid upon the need for an 
enlarged and more systematic scheme of rural educa- 
tion. Education must be defined in a very broad way, 
to include all efforts, however informal, to reach the 
working farmer. Far greater attention must be paid 
to the extent and type of information that is spread 
among the farmers. If we are to have an effective 
agricultural program, we must enlist the farmers — 
all farmers if possible. They can not blindly cooper- 
ate in or even subscribe to policies. They want to 
know both facts and principles concerning all parts of 
their complicated problem. It is not enough to teach 
the care of soil and plant and animal. The principles 
and practice of farm management, ample facts con- 
cerning prices, markets, food demand and supply, the 



252 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

best type of machinery, in fine all the economic and 
community problems are of supreme importance. Gov- 
ernment should deliberately encourage discussion 
among farmers of the larger phases of rural policy — 
the laws of diminishing returns and of land rent, re- 
gional competition in products, international relation- 
ships in food supply, the big factors in soil conservation. 
The publicly supported educational agencies in a de- 
mocracy can not fail to carry the farmers as a class to 
a fuller knowledge and keener understanding of the big 
as well as the small questions involved in a sound pro- 
gram of rural development. 

Legislation is the only way by which the government 
can carry out its objects. The kind of laws affecting 
agriculture which are enacted by the nation and the 
states, is of greatest moment. These laws will be 
numerous and will change with changing needs. But 
certain principles may be insisted upon. There should 
be laws encouraging to the greatest possible extent col- 
lective bargaining or cooperative business methods 
among the farmers. The farmers cannot complain 
of reasonable laws restricting their activities — as in- 
spection of dairies — in the interest of consumers, pro- 
vided there is equally effective protection against un- 
friendly and unfair dealings. The farmers' interest 
in taxation, tariffs and other trade regulations, mone- 
tary systems, and in fact all economic and social legis- 
lation is fundamental and not to be disregarded. It 
may be found impossible at times for farmers to get 
" a square deal " in business, even when they are well 
organized. In such event there should be no hesita- 
tion on the part of government to provide at public 
expense those facilities — such as public markets, ele- 
vators, storages — that private management has 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 253 

abused. Interstate and international arrangements af- 
fecting farmers must of course be made by the federal 
government. Land development projects, if under 
private auspices, should be regulated in the public in- 
terest. The exploitation of would-be settlers should 
never be permitted; if necessary, the government itself 
should control absolutely the redemption of unused 
lands and their sale to farmers. Local government in 
rural areas is capable of greater efficiency and particu- 
larly may enlarge in functions for the public good. 

While laws lie back of all governmental activity, as 
public agencies multiply and enlarge, administrative 
rules and policies increase in importance. The ques- 
tion of administrative efficiency therefore becomes of 
prime consequence. Unless able, well-trained, honest 
and far-visioned men are in control of public agencies 
and are encouraged and aided by the farmers them- 
selves, governmental effort must necessarily be weak 
and ineffective. These officials must have a measure 
of freedom as well as of responsibility. Petty restric- 
tions of a clerical sort cost terribly in real efficiency. 

The United States Department of Agriculture, with 
its cooperating allies, the agricultural colleges and the 
county farm bureaus, has become a gigantic institution. 
Its responsibility for leadership is as great as its size. 
It should assist the farmers to determine policies. It 
should keep men in all countries studying tendencies and 
methods. It may well seek to secure unity of effort on 
behalf of big projects of improvement. 

Government has its limitations. These should be 
frankly recognized and so far as possible removed. 
The tendency is for the methods of government to be- 
come bureaucratic, dilatory, inflexible, unadaptable. 
Laws themselves are often unwisely drawn, and limit 



254 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

the action of administrative officers. There is a neces- 
sity for a certain amount of system, order, precedent 
and rule, but these easily degenerate into mere machin- 
ery. Laws have to be interpreted, often by men with- 
out insight into the need of the farmer or even the true 
intent of the lawmakers. The personnel of responsible 
government officials changes. New men may bring 
new ideas, but may also have faulty ideas and inade- 
quate training or a limited point of view. Moreover, 
no public agent can speak permanently and fully for the 
farmers in a democracy. His words may be wise, his 
intent honest, and his judgment sound, but he does not 
fully represent the farmer. Excessive governmental 
activity and constant dependence upon government may 
check initiative and real power. There are important 
fields that no government institutions can cultivate — 
for example, the desire of farmers to take political ac- 
tion, and the sway of the religious motive. 

AGRARIAN ASSOCIATIONS 

After all the farmers must direct their own destinies. 
The best service that government can render farmers 
is to help them to help themselves. The paternalism 
of the state and the gratuitous benevolence of the city 
are equally futile in the building of a rural democracy. 
The cooperative efforts of farmers are indispensable to 
real rural progress. Whether in securing better farm 
practice, or in obtaining more satisfactory profits, or 
in evolving a better country life, the collective intelli- 
gence and planning of the great masses of farmers 
should be added to all investigation and teaching by 
specialists, all projects of government, all the work of 
school and college, all laws for regulation or control. 

The farmers must " organize " first of all for self- 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 255 

protection and self-help. The lone farmer is always 
at a disadvantage. Predatory interests must be met 
by a determined front. Farmers must have the chance 
to express their own convictions. Class power and ef- 
ficiency show themselves best in capacity for self-direc- 
tion. Only through association can farmers defend 
themselves; only so can they make their fullest con- 
tributions to the general welfare. There is danger in 
organization. The individual may lose himself in 
some big overhead attachment. Powerful combina- 
tions of farmers may exercise their power wrongfully. 
But the gains are far greater than the losses. The 
farmer has been called the most independent of men; 
but alone he is no longer independent. He becomes 
truly free, under modern conditions, only as he joins 
with his fellows for common ends. The dangers aris- 
ing in associated activity from impulse or ignorance, 
selfish class interests or feeling can be met by education, 
time and experience. 

Though it is doubtful if a farmers' political party 
can have any permanent place in America, the farmers 
must be free to act together to influence parties, meas- 
ures and men. There should be room in the rural 
program for a fighting force of farmers. The need 
for such aggressive tactics may arise only occasionally; 
but sound policy calls for its recognition. But rural 
associations do not exist for their own sakes. They 
must seek to serve. They must not be narrow in their 
views or in their activities. They are for the good of 
all or they are no good at all. They must be ready to 
cooperate heartily with one another and with public 
agencies. They should become as efficient as possible, 
each doing its own part in the program of rural better- 
ment. 



256 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE AND 
COUNTRY LIFE 

We cannot have an adequate rural policy unless we 
think of American agriculture as in some sort one big 
farm, with millions of fields, each tilled by a farmer 
and his family. How can we get all these millions of 
farmers to work hard, intelligently and continuously, 
in such a way that the entire American farm will reach 
its highest possible development? The only method 
by which this can be even approximated is organization. 
Organization secures the cooperation of all factors 
that are necessary or helpful in carrying out a definite 
purpose. The full organization of American agricul- 
ture and country life is the largest single item in mak- 
ing a sound policy effective. How can agriculture be 
thus organized? 

Each agency or institution devised to assist farmers 
and farming should work out a clearly marked policy 
and program. Its particular task in rural improve- 
ment needs to be defined and recognized. A particu- 
lar form of organization, as yet not fully utilized in 
America, is the thorough cooperation of the growers 
of a particular product, as of cotton growers, wheat 
growers, stock-breeders, in all parts of their business 
— producing, selling and establishing relationships to 
other interests or to government. Industrial solidarity 
seems necessary for greatest cooperative effectiveness. 
The citrus-fruit growers of California have shown the 
way to one of the most important and promising meth- 
ods of agricultural advancement. 

Certain objects or purposes require another group- 
ing of people and of agencies. The country life move- 
ment calls for common action by those whose chief in- 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION. 257 

terest is social welfare. Or a more specific end may- 
be in view, such as an apple producing campaign. Or 
in even greater detail, it may be desirable to have a 
" drive " for treating potato seed. In all these cases 
the cooperation of many agencies is necessary for the 
best success. Many things need to be done — in- 
vestigation, an educational propaganda — certain pub- 
lic regulations, buying and selling. Many agencies 
should be used — the extension service, the farm bu- 
reau, the Grange, the fruit or vegetable growers' asso- 
ciation, the farmers' exchange. In some way all neces- 
sary methods and agencies are to be used, each in its 
best way, for the purpose in view. 

Still another type of rural organization is to be de- 
veloped. Unless agriculture and country life are fully 
organized by regions or areas, the most complete prog- 
ress can hardly be expected. How can we bring the 
farming business and the farm life to its best estate 
in each farm, in each farm community, in each rural 
county, in each state, in the nation as a whole and in 
the world at large? Any aim short of such an idea 
is incomplete. Each region then must become a real 
unit for rural progress, must study itself, make plans 
for improvement, and ally all forces within the region 
in a broad program of development. This is really 
the crowning task of statesmanship in rural affairs. 

BUILDING THE LOCAL RURAL COMMUNITY 

In some respects the most important single improve- 
ment in rural affairs is to develop real communities of 
farming folk. These communities must often be cre- 
ated — they do not exist. The community idea is sim- 
ply that of a group of farmers and the people closely 
allied with them, acting together as one man. The 



2 5 8 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

members of this local group can plan as a unit in pro- 
duction of crops, agreeing on kinds and amounts. 
They can sell together and buy together. They can act 
together in school and church affairs and in matters of 
public health. A community may have its own ideas 
and ideals, its own church, school, farmers' exchange, 
library, in fine all organized activities that seem neces- 
sary or desirable. The local community is almost es- 
sential in a real rural democracy, and indeed is the unit 
of democracy. 

COUNTRY LIFE 

In any program of rural reconstruction that aims to 
be comprehensive it would be a fatal blunder not to 
stress the importance of the social or humane factor. 
The life is more than meat. The man is worth more 
than dollars. " The farmer is of more consequence 
than the farm and should be first improved." The big 
farm question is getting and keeping the right sort of 
people on the land. A satisfying farm life is necessary 
to a permanent agriculture and consequently to the best 
farming. The city will always be replenished from 
the country-side. We must therefore omit no plan 
and decline no exertion that will encourage a good farm 
life through such elements as: 

A farm home that conserves the physical vigor, the 
mental development, the moral character and the 
spiritual insight of all members of the family, 
whether workers or growing children, and plays 
its part in developing a rich community life. 

A mechanism of communication within the community 
and with other communities that serves both eco- 
nomic and social needs. 



PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 259 

A system of rural education that gives a sound founda- 
tion in the recognized elements of the efficient 
worker, the intelligent citizen, the high-minded 
man. 

Conservation of the health of the people; proper pro- 
vision for public sanitation. 

Machinery of local government at once honest and ef- 
fective for large community ends as well as for 
maintenance of order. 

Ample recreation, native rather than exotic — spon- 
taneous, but directed, for the young; self-ex- 
pressive for the mature. 

A rural art that develops the full capacity of the farm 
environment, making beauty of dwelling, road- 
side, field and broad landscape an asset of farm 
life recognized by the farmer himself. 

A rural culture that appreciates the full meaning of 
life and seeks constant development of mind and 
spirit through work, books, nature, human com- 
panionship. 

Moral conditions that make for training of children in 
the best habits of conduct. 

The religious motive that idealizes farm work as 
service to God and His children, land manage- 
ment as social responsibility and rural life itself 
as a sacred opportunity for personal joy and 
growth. 

COUNCILS OF AGRICULTURE 
There can be no consistent rural policy unless there 
is a policy maker. But there is no existing agency wise 
enough or representative enough to make a policy. 
We have many agencies, public and private, and will 
have more rather than fewer of them. How then can 



260 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

we have a good policy? The only effective way is by 
the organization, under the federal principle, of perma- 
nent groups authoritatively representing the different 
aspects of the farm problem, and the different public 
and voluntary agencies which are at work or that may 
come into being. National and state councils are im- 
perative; county and community councils are almost 
equally important. An international council of agri- 
culture and country life is not beyond the range of 
possibilities. There is no other method by which 
American agriculture can be assured its full measure of 
intelligent improvement and its adjustment to a de- 
veloping civilization. 

A RURAL DEMOCRACY 

In the social reorganization of the world the farmer 
must have his part. He must not be an underling. In 
intelligence, freedom, initiative, he must stand as the 
good citizen. He must participate in political, indus- 
trial and social arrangements for the common good of 
mankind. We do not want and we will not tolerate 
an agricultural caste out of which it is difficult to rise. 
The farmer must be truly free and fully respected. 
An American program of rural reconstruction finds its 
need then in a wise, united planning for a true democ- 
racy in which the farmer himself will find his place in 
full freedom and in splendid efficiency. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE URGE OF THE NEW DAY 

The great war is over. The menace of autocratic 
world-power has been ground to powder. The birth 
pangs of the New Day are gone. The European 
world, torn and bleeding, wearily faces the task of re- 
building herself into health and strength. The world 
has been made safe for democracy. But democracy 
is yet an infant to be nursed into a virile maturity 
through years and decades of experiment, failure, self- 
education, disappointment, enlargement, reshaping, 
final triumph. 

America emerges from the war potent for aid in the 
work of world reconstruction. Her resources barely 
touched, her casualties relatively small, her strength un- 
impaired, she must shoulder much of the world's bur- 
den. She has fought effectively to help save for hu- 
manity the freedom she has cherished as her own great 
ideal; she must now wield her might on behalf of a 
genuine democracy for all peoples. Nations must 
learn to be both efficient and free. 

Is the farmer ready for the New Day? Shall he 
reap the full harvest of " greater opportunity and 
greater prosperity "? Is the American farmer ready, 
first of all, to do his full share toward feeding the 
hungry nations until they can care for themselves? 
Perhaps here is his largest opportunity to help in re- 
construction, for as Jane Addams has recently written : 
" There are unexpected turnings in the paths of moral 

261 



262 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

evolution and it would not be without precedent if, 
when the producing and shipping of food is no longer a 
commercial enterprise, but had been gradually shifted 
to a desire to feed the hungry, a new and powerful 
force in international affairs would have to be reck- 
oned with." Here is a glorious vision of an idealist. 
But after all is it visionary? Feeding the hungry world 
is the farmer's task in the New Day. Why should 
he not recognize it? Why should it not be his great 
inspiration? This conception of his task and the bend- 
ing of his will to its fulfillment may have consequences 
far beyond that of merely appeasing hunger. 

Mr. Hoover has gone abroad again; after he went 
it was announced that there would be a world organi- 
zation of the food supply. This step is clearly neces- 
sary if scores of millions of earth's people are to be 
kept from starvation. But the idea is profoundly true 
as a basic need of the New Day. The world will be 
poorly compensated for its sufferings in the present 
war if it cannot organize its production and distribu- 
tion of food so that there is no hunger anywhere. 

AMERICA UNPREPARED FOR THE NEW DAY 

In many ways we are unprepared for peace. We 
do not have an agricultural program. There is no 
responsible institution, no representative organization, 
no responsible group of men with a program. Most 
of us look to the Department of Agriculture for lead- 
ership and statesmanship in a matter of this sort. We 
do not find it. Various farmers' bodies have definite 
ideas on many of the needs of the new time, but there is 
no representative group of farmers with a compre- 
hensive, clearcut, adequate plan for the improvement 
of American agriculture and country life. The De- 



THE URGE OF THE NEW DAY 263 

partment of the Interior has given publicity to a grandi- 
ose scheme for providing land for returning soldiers. 
Later came the announcement that the Department of 
Labor would soon announce a solution of that prob- 
lem. Thus far, the Department of Agriculture has 
been silent in the matter. Many groups are discussing 
these problems, seeking to outline plans of opera- 
tions. Thus far, there is no unity among them and 
there has been no serious effort indeed, to bring them 
together. 

WE SHOULD TAKE TIME TO MAKE A PERMANENT 
AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM 

A program should be made only after great care and 
much study and with counsel from many minds and 
from many points of view. It cannot be made in a 
day nor by any single man, nor even by a group of men 
representing only a portion of the forces to be cor- 
related or interested in only a part of the problem. 

An agricultural program should be as broad as the 
whole problem. It cannot be confined merely to pro- 
duction. Indeed, its great emphasis will be upon just 
distribution, skillful farm management, a satisfying 
country life. We should frankly discuss such basic 
questions as acquisition of land, provision for farm 
labor, relations to other industrial groups. 

In order to secure such a broad and well considered 
plan of improvement, it is necessary that there should 
be free and constant cooperation among all the indi- 
viduals and all the organizations which may fairly be 
said to represent the working farmers, as well as re- 
sponsible representatives of publicly supported institu- 
tions dealing with agricultural affairs. 

A beginning should be made now. 



264 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

UNIFY AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 

It is wholly impossible for the farmers of America 
to take their proper place in helping to solve the prob- 
lems of reconstruction that are confronted at the very 
threshold of the New Day, unless agriculture can pre- 
sent a single front — a unified purpose and an ag- 
gressive program. It is necessary that the two main 
groups of rural institutions, those supported out of the 
public treasury, and the private or voluntary associa- 
tions and organizations of various types should work 
in closest harmony. There is an imperative call upon 
the agencies of agricultural education to get together 
at once not only to map an adequate program of agri- 
cultural education, but to take steps to carry it out in 
the spirit of a large unity. We should have a com- 
prehensive and statesmanlike plan for the utmost de- 
velopment of our rural school system, backed by the 
farmers and coordinated with our system of agricul- 
tural education. There is the same pressing need of 
real unity and thorough-going cooperation among the 
various farmers' organizations. The country life in- 
terests should be federated. Anything short of this 
full unification of rural forces will result in a partial 
program. It will mean failure to meet the great ex- 
igency. The fundamental need of the New Day is, 
therefore: 

THE LARGER COOPERATION 

Much good can be done by partial effort. Groups 
here and there, individual agencies, studying and plan- 
ning and working, will accomplish much, but it is only 
through the cooperation of all interests that the de- 
mands of the New Day are to be met. 



THE URGE OF THE NEW DAY 265 

Larger Cooperation Nationally. Under one name 
or another, what, it does not matter, there must be a 
conferring group that shall attempt to correlate agri- 
cultural forces. Let us call it a National Council of 
Agriculture and Country Life unless a better name can 
be found. Let it be thoroughly representative in its 
makeup. What could it do? 

1. It could outline a clear-cut statement of the Amer- 
ican farm problem. 

2. It could develop a plan for ensuring the compre- 
hensive study and the accurate mapping of the agri- 
cultural resources of the entire country. 

3. It could make a statement of the main elements 
in an American agricultural policy that would attempt 
to secure maximum efficiency on the part of the farm- 
ers, a fair labor income for their efforts, and the proper 
relationships of American agricultural activities to the 
world's need and supply of food. 

4. It could make a program of efforts needed to 
carry out large policies. It could list the various agen- 
cies now at work on behalf of agriculture, show what 
each is doing and indicate how it may fit into the pro- 
gram. It could recommend improvements, if neces- 
sary, in existing agencies and organizations. It could 
seek constantly to secure the cooperation of all these 
agencies on behalf of the program. 

It may be asked whether such a council should be 
permanent. It seems to be the only way out. There 
is a call for a permanent national agricultural general 
staff, one that is representative of the widest possible 
range of agencies. It would be inadequate if it repre- 
sented merely the government or merely the farmers. 
Unity is indispensable to the most complete agricul- 
tural advancement and unity can be gained only by uni- 



266 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

fying. This larger national cooperation is therefore 
indispensable for the New Day. 

Larger Cooperation in the State. The same need 
exists in every state for this getting-together of the agri- 
cultural interests — the state board or department of 
agriculture, the department of education, the agricul- 
tural college, the farm bureaus, the Grange, the Farm- 
ers' Union and all other voluntary organizations. It 
would be well if in each state there could be the equiva- 
lent of an agricultural development committee com- 
posed of the official representatives of all state-sup- 
ported agencies charged with work on behalf of agri- 
culture, to outline plans for studying and mapping the 
agricultural resources of the state, make a program for 
the development of agriculture and country life and 
suggest methods of securing the cooperation of the 
various agencies. Beyond this, there should be a fed- 
eration of rural agencies, to include not only the pub- 
lic institutions, but the voluntary associations of farm- 
ers and others interested in rural affairs. 

Larger Cooperation in the Community. No other 
form of effort to organize agriculture and to make it 
efficient will reach its full power, unless in every one 
of the 50,000 possible rural communities we have the 
people working together and thinking together and 
talking together and planning together and acting to- 
gether, for every common purpose of their common 
need and for a common contribution to state, national 
and world welfare. 

Larger Cooperation in the County. County councils 
of agriculture and country life might well be instigated 
by the county farm bureaus, but should not be subor- 
dinate to them ; for the farm bureau is only one of many 
agencies in most counties. But wherever the county 



THE URGE OF THE NEW DAY 267 

is a prominent feature of American political life, this 
larger cooperation of county activities is necessary. 

Larger Cooperation between City and Country. 
We have made scarcely a beginning in bringing together 
city and country. The need is felt particularly in the 
relations of the small country city or county seat situ- 
ated in a farming region. It is mischievous to permit 
the continuance of those antagonisms that do prevail. 
In the New Day there is no place for sharp class dis- 
tinctions. The larger cooperation must involve all in- 
terests, all classes, all peoples. 

The World as a Field for the Larger Cooperation. 
There are those who have been pleading for some 
while that not only American agriculture, but world 
agriculture, must be thoroughly organized. The war 
has forced this problem upon us whether we will or no. 
We can no longer remain immune to what European 
countries or South American countries or Asiatic coun- 
tries are doing in agriculture. The International In- 
stitute of Agriculture in Rome was a sincere and far- 
sighted effort to provide a clearing-house for world 
agricultural interests. Why not use it as the nucleus 
of comprehensive world organization for agriculture? 

We must not devote our energies and thought wholly 
to the business or economic side of agriculture. The 
great human interests of farmers as a class and as a 
part of the world democracy must be taken into con- 
sideration. Before the war there were the beginnings 
of a very distinct call for agricultural missionaries to 
go into backward agricultural countries like Turkey and 
India. The result of this war ought to be the organi- 
zation of a world agricultural mission. The countries 
that will emerge from the war well organized, forward- 
looking, competent, should pool their agricultural in- 



268 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

telligence and skill on behalf of the human as well as 
the economic interests of the peasants of Russia, the 
rural villages of India, and the tiny farms of China. 
America particularly ought to be open to an appeal 
for a world program of agricultural education and 
country life propaganda that will supplement coor- 
dinated agricultural business and economic interests. 

Sooner or later there will have to be due recognition 
of world interest and world solidarity in regard to rural 
affairs. The very moment has arrived to recognize 
that interest in an international conference and pre- 
sumably in some form of permanent council or con- 
ferring group. The desirability has long existed. It 
has now become imperative. 

THE FIRST STEPS 

In reconstruction plans, probably agriculture will be 
recognized. A national commission to study these 
problems may be necessary and desirable, but we can- 
not wait for that. The most important single step that 
can be taken is to secure a thoroughly responsible na- 
tional conference to consider the agricultural program 
of reconstruction. Ideally, this would be called by the 
Department of Agriculture; but at any rate it ought to 
be brought together and in the immediate future. 
There is no other way of mapping an adequate policy 
for securing a working program. 

There could be formed at least a temporary Na- 
tional Council of Agriculture and Country Life, com- 
posed of representatives from such bodies as the Na- 
tional Grange, the National Board of Farmers' Or- 
ganizations, the Advisory Committee to the Secretary 
of Agriculture and the Federal Food Administration, 
the American National Live Stock Association, the Na- 



THE URGE OF THE NEW DAY 269 

tional Grain Growers' Association and possibly other 
similar groups; and among the publicly supported 
agencies, representatives from the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture ; the Federal Food Administra- 
tion; the Association of American Agricultural Col- 
leges and Experiment Stations, and such groups as the 
Association of Agricultural Economists, the Associa- 
tion for Agricultural Legislation and the State Market- 
ing Officials. 

THE HOUR HAS STRUCK 

America was unprepared for war. She is unpre- 
pared for peace. She carried the war to a glorious 
end. She will be equal to the demands of peace. But 
there is no time to lose. We did not have an adequate 
agricultural program before the war. We did not de- 
velop one during the war, and we do not have one now. 
But we are completely competent to make such a pro- 
gram. There are hosts of men who see the need, who 
have the vision, who possess knowledge and ideas. 
These men are to be found among the farmers and 
among public officials, but their knowledge, their ideas, 
their vision, their efforts must be correlated. It is only 
so that we can meet the issue of the hour. The urge 
of the New Day in agriculture is a definite policy, an 
adequate program, and the larger cooperation. 

Europe cannot be rehabilitated unless its agriculture 
is rebuilt. Are the American farmers ready to help 
in this rebuilding? The New Day will be merely a 
dream unless the farmer as well as the laborer comes 
to his own. Education and organization now and 
evermore are the only doors through which the farmer 
can pass to his rightful place. 



APPENDIX I 

THE FORUM AND THE COMMUNITY 1 

The rise of the community is one of the outstanding social 
phenomena of our time, not yet generally discerned, much less 
accepted as a working basis of social reconstruction. 

THE FIRST COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 

The forum is the first distinctively community organization 
emerging out of the reconstructive chaos through which yes- 
terday is becoming to-morrow. Isms no longer cohere; sec- 
tarianism is a spent force; dogma is dead; and the caste castles 
of yesterday are everywhere capitulating to democracy. So- 
ciety is being reconstructed in terms of human essentials, and in 
many instances the forum has already become not only human- 
izing but human. 

A COMMUNITY CRUCIBLE 

Because of this, the forum is a community crucible, in which 
Jew and Gentile have offensive Judaism and defensive Gen- 
tility burned away; in which the ignorantly bound are made 
intelligently free, and the coldly free are warmed to com- 
munity service. 

A COMMUNITY SCHOOL 

These things happen because the forum is a community 
school. Educated people are beginning to be socially intelli- 
gent, or at least to understand that social ignorance is the un- 
pardonable sin against the Holy Spirit that indwells in all life 
as well as over-broods it. In the forum, knowledge is in* 

1 By Harold Marshall, of the Community Forum Movement. 

271 



272 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

structed by wisdom, and often the broken English and halting 
thought of a question from the floor is greater than many flow- 
ing periods from the platform. Not every audience learns 
anything from every speaker; but any speaker can learn much 
from the collective wisdom of any audience. 

AN INTERPRETER'S HOUSE 

In this wise, the forum becomes an Interpreter's House, 
where each finds his own problems solved by the common ex- 
perience, his own questions answered by the collective wisdom, 
and above all where he learns that which saves evolution from 
revolution — that these problems are not new, only new to 
him ; that others have asked and found at least partial answers 
that help him to larger answers; that he is bruised with the 
unconquered hardships of a brutal and savage past; and that he 
cannot be healed by any self-sought balm, but only by the oil 
of common sacrifice. 

AN EXPRESSION OF HUMAN RELIGION 

In the forum the still inarticulate religion of humanity is 
beginning to find a voice. Some forums had orthodox begin- 
nings, but soon lost them. Many possessed an early piety, but 
outgrew it as soon as they began to grow at all. But all real 
forums become increasingly religious, not by intention, but 
because every human being, stripped of orthodoxy and piety, 
reveals a naked soul. Many a preacher, heartsick from the 
Phariseeism of the pew, has been healed by the publican of the 
forum. Indeed, to many outcast souls the forum is a half-way 
house from Churchianity to Christianity. 

A QUICKENER OF THE COMMUNITY CONSCIENCE 

Every forum is a quickener of the community conscience. 
The ethics of Christianity have been individualized through 
ages of individual effort to escape from a hellward-bound so- 
ciety to a selfish heaven. The supreme ethical problem of our 
time is to re-state the social principles of the Hebrew prophets. 



FORUM AND COMMUNITY 273 

that found their latest and greatest social statement in the su- 
preme Prophet of Nazareth, so that the individual conscience 
shall function in social terms. The forum is doing this in 
many communities, and for a rapidly increasing number of 
individuals. Its greatest actual achievement so far is the num- 
ber of social sinners it has converted into social servants. 

A COMMUNITY CHURCH 

In what has already been said is implied what may yet be the 
greatest of all the contributions of the forum to the community 
life of to-morrow. It is increasingly apparent to all thoughtful 
people that one of the great problems of our time is the rein- 
tegration of divisive and competitive and mutually limiting sec- 
tarian organizations into a new religious unity. The forums 
are making a distinct and increasing contribution to the solu- 
tion of this problem. The working creed of the Open Forum 
is " the belief that we must all move together toward the solu- 
tion of the successive problems of mankind through the dedica- 
tion of each to all, the devotion of all to each, and our com- 
mon consecration to all the nobler ends of life." Its spirit is 
the modern spirit that has changed religious emphasis from 
other-world individualism to the increasingly heroic endeavor 
to bring in the Kingdom of God among men. It is inspired 
by the religion of the common life; it may yet prove a powerful 
help in the development of the church of the common life. 



APPENDIX II 

WHAT SOME COMMUNITIES ARE DOING 

All over the country there is an increasing tendency to take 
up rural affairs on a community basis. It is almost impossible 
to classify these because most of them are not given publicity in 
any wide way, but there is no doubt that the community method 
of doing business is growing. Merely for the purpose of illus- 
trating the variety of community effort, there is appended a 
statement of what some Massachusetts communities are doing. 
These are to be found in a recent bulletin from the Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural College, entitled, " Mobilizing the Rural 
Community," and written by Professor E. L. Morgan, Com- 
munity Adviser at the college. These are actual instances of 
efforts and can be verified. 

WHAT SOME COMMUNITIES ARE DOING 1 

I. IN FARM PRODUCTION 

The organization of a livestock improvement association that 
has brought 135 pure-breds into the herds of one town in 
three years. 

Poultry producers have brought about the adoption of one breed 
of poultry for one town. 

Through a soil improvement club one town has increased crop 
yields. 

The organization of a cow test association that has weeded out 
41 unprofitable cows from the herds of one town. 

A large number of towns have stimulated agricultural improve- 
ment through cooperation with the farm bureau. 

1 Anyone interested in any item here mentioned may, upon request, 
get the name of the town in which it is being; carried out. 

274 



WHAT COMMUNITIES ARE DOING 275 

Last year one town increased its acreage of potatoes 92%, an- 
other its acreage of beans 200% and another its acreage 
of corn 160%. 

An all-winter lecture service on agriculture and home making 
was secured in one town from the farm bureau. 

II. IN FARM BUSINESS 

Some thirty farmers' cooperative exchanges have taken over 

much of the purchasing of farm supplies in as many towns. 
In some ten towns farmers got together through the farmers' 

exchange, adopted a brand, and have had their products 

packed by one man for the last three years. 
Thirty-one farmers are keeping farm accounts and are thereby 

learning their business. 
By forming a local farm loan association farmers in a number 

of towns have been able to get better long-term credit 

facilities. 
Special short-term loans for crop production were secured for 

sixteen farmers in one community. 
Farmers in one section have combined in establishing a milk 

processing and distributing system. 
Last year business men of one section furnished seed potatoes, 

fertilizer, and spray material, the farmers the land and 

labor. The crop was divided equally in the field. 
Last year 48 towns established community markets where the 

surplus farm and garden products were easily disposed of. 
A group of farmers in one town have combined and are using a 

motor truck in delivering their farm products. 
Farmers in a number of sections have financed the gathering and 

circulation of market news information. 

III. IN CONSERVATION 

Community canning and drying centers were established. 
Food thrift conferences and demonstrations were held. 
Women in many towns have met regularly for the study of 

foods and their conservation. 
Substitutes were used for staples in feeds and fuels. 



276 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

A plan was outlined for developing and conserving natural re- 
sources. 

Points of scenic and historical value were purchased and im- 
proved. 

iv. in boys' and girls' activities 

Last year 75% of the towns and cities of the state encouraged 
hoys' and girls' club work and appropriated funds to em- 
ploy a local club supervisor for the summer months. 

Several 'owns have opened a community center in the school 
building or elsewhere which is of great educational value to 
its young people. 

One town took a church census which showed church and Sun- 
day School attendance among boys and girls. 

Boy Scout and Camp Fire Girl and Y. M. C. A. work are es- 
tablished activities in many communities. 

One town is running the moving picture business at cost. This 
gives a carefully selected program at a low price. 

A recreation field was purchased by one town which gave a 
public place for baseball, basketball, picnics, etc. 

V. IN COMMUNITY LIFE 

a. In General Community Affairs 

A number of towns, using the community council scheme, have 
worked out a thorough long-term plan of development by 
means of which they are getting results. 

A uniform plan of organization for special war work has reached 
every town in the commonwealth. 

This year 300 towns were officially represented at the com- 
munity leaders' planning conferences, one of which was 
held in every county of the state. 

Two hundred and eighty-six towns have held special com- 
munity conferences to consider development plans for 1918. 

b. In Home Affairs 

Home making study in women's clubs has encouraged interest 
in home affairs. 



WHAT COMMUNITIES ARE DOING 277 

Home making taught in the schools has given girls a new atti- 
tude toward the home and its work. 

A home planning exhibit in the library brought out much in- 
terest in house arrangements. Five homes were built from 
these plans. 

The town housing act was adopted by many towns, thus safe- 
guarding the town against dangerous and unhealthy houses. 

Home making lectures and demonstrations have developed in- 
terest in home affairs in many towns of the state. 

Extension schools in home making have been held in a number 
of communities through cooperation between the Agricul- 
tural College and the farm bureaus. 

c. In Education 

A sub-library has been placed in every school in the town, thus 

making books available to the children. 
Some 150 towns made an appropriation of $100 to $200 for a 

boys' and girls' club supervisor which resulted in large 

numbers of boys and girls doing club work last year. 
A town Christmas tree was participated in by all churches and 

many other organizations. 
A town agricultural fair association holds an annual fair and 

exhibit of things made or grown in the town. 
A parent-teacher association has developed a spirit of perfect 

cooperation on school matters. 
An Agricultural College extension school resulted in a thorough 

study of the agricultural situation in one town. Plans 

were made and good results obtained. 
A community progress conference was the starting point for a 

general community organization plan in one town. 
Vocational teaching has been the means of holding many boys 

and girls in school as well as given them vocational guid- 
ance. 
In some 25 towns attention has been given to noonday 

lunches. 
A public forum gives the people of one town an opportunity to 

discuss the live questions of the day. 



278 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

The organization of a community house has given a social cen- 
ter for the people of one town. 

The Agricultural College correspondence courses in poultry, 
pomology, home making, etc., have been taken by a large 
number every year. 

Lectures and demonstrations in home making, orcharding, poul- 
try, marketing, public health, etc., have stirred one town 
to the point of planning for the future. 

d. In Public Health 

A pure and abundant water supply made one town healthier 

and gave adequate fire protection. 
A number of towns maintain district nurses. In some of these 

the funds are appropriated at the annual town meeting. 
A sewage disposal system reduced many forms of disease and 

generally improved the health of the people. 
The town housing plan was adopted and made impossible the 

building of dark or poorly ventilated houses. 
The eradication of flies and mosquitoes was brought about 

through a public health survey which showed breeding 

places and suggested remedies. 
A town clean-up day really cleaned up the town, many loads of 

refuse being gathered at town expense. 

e. In Transportation and Communication 

Road construction according to a permanent improvement plan 

has saved several hundred dollars every year and given 

much better roads. 
A steam roller for road building and maintenance has proven 

more economical than teams for drawing the road machine 

and packing the surface. 
A new trolley schedule adapted to the needs of the town has 

been inaugurated. 
Trolley express facilities have been increased so that the farmer 

was brought into much better communication with his 

market. 



WHAT COMMUNITIES ARE DOING 279 

Sidewalk improvement and extension did much for the conven- 
ience of the people and the improvement of one town. 

A new road system resulted in opening new roads and abandon- 
ing others. This was a great help to the farmer in reach- 
ing his market. 

The use of a split log drag finally won its way and resulted in 
better roads at less expense. 

/. In Recreation 

A recreation field gave the young people a permanent place for 
plays and games. The whole town uses it for picnics, 
festivals, etc. 

An annual recreation field day or a sort of old home day has 
done much to develop community interest. 

Monthly public entertainments of real value have been given 
instead of haphazard events. 

Local dramatics have helped to hold the interest of young people. 

Play apparatus in schools greatly reduced the problem of play- 
ground discipline and gave incentive and purpose to play 
activities. 

Organized athletics, baseball and basketball, held the loyalty 
of both boys and girls to other things in the town. 

A July 4th celebration did much to develop the patriotic mo- 
tive. It dealt with local historical events. The people 
remained at home and enjoyed a quiet though impressive 
day. 

A May day celebration enlisted the children of the schools in 
an event which they felt was their own. 

g. In Civic Affairs 

The improvement of public property has increased the civic 
pride so that many homes are being improved through 
planting. 

Through the removal of bill boards one town got rid of un- 
wholesome pictures which were constantly before their 
children. 



280 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

A home improvement contest enrolled 31 homes and resulted 
in very marked improvement in all of them. 

Many towns have planned and improved the school grounds, 
cemeteries and playgrounds. 

The placing of guide boards has very materially improved the 
facilities of travel in one town. 

Grounds of scenic and historical value were purchased which 
would soon have been appropriated for commercial pur- 
poses. 

A town finance committee was organized which has given study 
and direction to the financial affairs. 

A town planning board worked out a plan for public buildings, 
streets and parks. 

An annual tree planting day gives one town more trees in pub- 
lic places each year. 

Roadside care and planting has made many highways more 
beautiful and easier to take care of. 

h. In Public Morality 

A religious education plan whereby every child was given re- 
ligious education by some church. 

An anti-saloon and vice crusade was carried on. This was a 
combined community and church movement that secured 
results. 

Lectures on subjects pertaining to special phases of public 
morality have resulted in a new standard of living for one 
locality. 

A church membership survey of the town showed the exact con- 
stituency of each church. 

A church federation united the two churches under one minis- 
ter, each church still retaining its identity and organization. 

Church cooperation in social service combined the work of all 
into an all-year-round social service plan. The county Y. 
M. C. A. was a large factor in bringing this about. 

Supervision of dance halls and moving picture shows eliminated 
the undesirable features and made them of real value to 
the town. 



APPENDIX III 

PROGRAM FOR FOOD PRODUCTION AND 
CONSERVATION 

THE FARMER'S RESPONSIBILITY 

Upon the farmer rests in large measure the final responsi- 
bility of winning the war in which we are now involved. The 
importance to the nation of an adequate food supply, espe- 
cially for the present year, can not be over-emphasized. The 
world's food reserve is very low. Not only our own con- 
sumers, but much of the world at large, must rely more com- 
pletely than ever before upon the American farmer. There- 
fore, the man who tills the soil and supports the soldier in the 
field and the family at home, is rendering as noble and patriotic 
a service as is the man who bears the brunt of battle. 

The American farmer has long shown his ability to pro- 
duce more food per man and at lower cost per unit than any 
other farmer in the world, but he has never had to do his best. 
He needs to do his best now. This is not the time to experi- 
ment with new and untried crops and processes. It is very 
important that the farmer devote his principal efforts to the 
production of such crops and the employment of such methods 
as are well established in his community and as are likely to 
yield the maximum return in food and clothing material. 

Within the next sixty days the final measure of crop acreage 
and food production for this year will have been established. 
We urge the importance of the immediate mobilization of all 
available service of the federal and state Departments of Agri- 
culture and the colleges of agriculture in cooperation with the 
press, the banks, the commercial organizations, the religious and 
the social societies, that all may heartily join with the farmer 
in performing the patriotic duty of providing and conserving 
food. 

281 



282 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Because of the world shortage of food, it is scarcely possible 
that the production of staple crops by the farmers of the United 
States can be too great this year. There is every reason to be- 
lieve that a generous price will be paid for the harvest of their 
fields. 

INCREASING THE FOOD SUPPLY 

There is yet time to add substantially to the bread supply by 
increasing the acreage of spring wheat in the northern states. 
Throughout the United States, east of the one hundredth 
meridian, the corn area may be increased to advantage, with a 
view to its use both for human food and animal production. 

The production of a normal cotton crop is necessary. This 
can best be accomplished by more intensive cultivation and 
increased fertilization rather than by increasing the acreage 
and thus neglecting the food and forage crops so important to 
the south. 

In the districts where wheat has been winter killed replant- 
ing is suggested with oats, corn, or sorghum, as climatic con- 
ditions may determine. Where barley and oats are proved 
and reliable crops, they should be planted to the maximum that 
can be effectively handled. In portions of the northern and 
eastern states, where the season is too short for the great staple 
crops, the buckwheat acreage may well be increased. 

An important increase in our food supply may be made by 
enlarging the area planted to navy beans in the north and west 
and to Mexican and Tepary beans in the southwest, and by 
stimulating in every reasonable way an increase in the area 
of potatoes planted, especially for local use. 

Sweet potatoes in the south will undoubtedly be needed in 
their fresh state in larger quantity than usual and also for stor- 
ing for winter use either in their natural state or as canned 
or desiccated products. Where peanuts succeed, production 
may well be enlarged because of their value both as food and 
forage. 

A reasonable seed reserve for replanting tilled crops should 
be held wherever practicable. 

While it is important to utilize available lands in the staple 



A PROGRAM 283 

small grains and tilled crops, care should be taken to avoid 
undue encroachment on the area used for pasturage or hay 
which is required for live-stock production. 

Authority should be granted the Secretary of Agriculture to 
advance to farmers under proper safeguards seeds required to 
insure the production of crops decided to be necessary for the 
welfare of the nation. 

THE SCHOOL CHILDREN'S PART 

We appeal to the youth of the nation to put forth every 
effort to produce foodstuffs in gardens and fields. There 
could be no better expression of true patriotic devotion to the 
country. It has been demonstrated through the boys' and 
girls' clubs that it is possible for the farm family to supply itself 
with much of the food required, thereby releasing the commer- 
cial product of the country for the needs of the oeople in the 
cities and in foreign lands. 

In a normal season it is certain that there will be large quan- 
tities of perishable products which can not be properly pre- 
served in the home. To meet this emergency it is recom- 
mended that local and municipal drying and canning establish- 
ments be improvised to conserve this material. 

KEEPING UP THE MEAT SUPPLY 

The live-stock holdings of the farmers of the United States 
are already too low. It would be most unfortunate if these 
numbers were diminished further under the pressure of the 
present demand for food. Indeed, an early increase of the 
animal products of the country should be made. Such an in- 
crease must come chiefly through the enlarging of our feed 
supply by more successful methods of feeding, and through more 
complete control of contagious diseases. 

Milk production could be increased fully one-fourth by more 
liberal and intelligent feeding. Pork production could be in- 
creased substantially through the more extensive use of fall 
litters, better care, and feeding. The poultry products of the 
United States could be doubled within a year. 



284 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

Contagious diseases of farm animals take a toll of more 
than a quarter of a billion dollars annually. More than half of 
this loss is due to controllable diseases, such as hog cholera, 
black-leg and Texas fever. The federal government, cooper- 
ating with the states, could profitably expand its intensive regu- 
latory services so as to embrace every important live-stock dis- 
trict in this country. 

MOBILIZING FARM LABOR 

One of the principal limiting elements of food production is 
the labor supply on the farm. Indiscriminate enlistment from 
the farms with no plan for labor replacement will reduce food 
production below its present low level. 

The plan for public defense should include as definite a 
program for enlistment for food supply as for service at the 
front. 

In addition to more than one-half of those applying for en- 
listment and rejected because of unfitness for military service, 
there are more than two millions of boys between the ages of 
15 and 19 years in the cities and towns not now engaged in 
productive work vital to the nation in the present war emer- 
gency. These constitute the most important hitherto unor- 
ganized and unutilized labor resources available for this emer- 
gency. 

In consideration of all these facts the plan of military enlist- 
ment should be broadened so as to include in a national service 
those who, by reason of their age or physical condition, are 
permanently or temporarily incapacitated for active military 
duty but who are able to render to the government equally in- 
dispensable service in the production of food, supplies and 
munitions. 

This enlistment should include three classes: Men beyond 
military age; men of military age but not accepted for active 
military duty; and boys under age for enlistment. 

The government should make plans at once for the mobiliza- 
tion of this important resource for the production of food and 



A PROGRAM 285 

other necessities. This proposed enlistment in the national 
service should be regarded as part of the public patriotic service 
in the present war emergency and be given proper official 
recognition. 

THE HARVEST EMERGENCY 

The husbanding of a matured crop promptly is often the 
most vital and crucial point in production and is the point of 
the heaviest labor demand on the farm. We suggest that the 
federal Department of Agriculture, cooperating with the state 
departments of agriculture and other agencies, should take 
steps to mobilize farm labor to meet all emergencies which may 
arise. 

A SURVEY OF THE FOOD SUPPLY 

We suggest the importance of a thorough-going survey of the 
food, labor, and other resources of the country and of the needs 
of the local communities to the end that every part of the 
country may be maintained in effective service. Therefore, we 
recommend : 

That power be conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture, 
in cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission so far as 
practicable, to secure such information regarding the food sup- 
ply of the nation and all business enterprises relating thereto 
as may be necessary to enable Congress to legislate suitably for 
the protection of the people in the existing crisis and for the 
information of the nation in its daily conduct, giving to 
the Secretary of Agriculture for this purpose power to ad- 
minister oaths, to examine witnesses, and to call for the pro- 
duction of books and papers with means of enforcement and 
penalties. 

That authority be conferred upon the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture to establish market grades and classes of farm products, 
including seeds, and standards for receptacles for such products. 
For this purpose he should consult the various trades concerned. 
The established grades for corn and wheat undoubtedly will be 
of much advantage in purchasing supplies and the establishment 
of grades for other products will be fully justified for the same 



286 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

purpose. Furthermore, such standards, with a suitable degree 
of supervision of their application, will result in returning to the 
producer the value of the particular qualities he produces, thus 
encouraging adequate production in the future. This is of 
special importance in connection with the perishable crops, but 
applies with almost equal force to the staples. 

The Secretary of Agriculture should be authorized by law to 
license warehouses, packing plants, mills, cold storages, produce 
exchanges, cooperative and other shipping associations, commis- 
sion merchants, auctioneers, brokers, jobbers, wholesale dis- 
tributors, and other individuals, partnerships, associations, and 
corporations engaged in the business of marketing and distribut- 
ing farm and food products. When directed by the President, 
the Secretary should have power, after advising with the Coun- 
cil of National Defense as to the necessity of such a step, to 
take over and operate such of these businesses as may be war- 
ranted, in a manner similar to receivership. 

In order to facilitate the solution of transportation problems, 
government agencies should do all in their power to bring about 
a relatively adequate supply of cars for moving food and other 
necessities. 

Communities, counties, and cities should be urged to take 
steps that will lead toward a larger degree of local and district 
self-support, especially in perishable products, by making inven- 
tories of food needs and surveys of neighboring possibilities of 
production and in general by closer cooperation of the local con- 
suming and producing interests and by the provision of local 
marketing facilities. 

PRICE PUBLICITY 

To bring about a greater equality of distribution considering 
the consumptive demands of population centers, the market in- 
formation facilities of the United States Department of Agri- 
culture and the several state departments should be extended 
and made as effective as possible. It should include the publish- 
ing, as widely as possible for the information of producers and 
consumers of farm products, of average prices of foods, feeds, 



A PROGRAM 287 

and live stock, and particularly those paid by the War Depart- 
ment, if purchases are made direct in the open market instead 
of by the usual contract method. 

If not incompatible with wise policy, the War Department 
should determine and state where training camps are to be 
located, so that local production can be expanded to care in 
some degree for the increased consumption as a measure of gen- 
eral economy, and to effect a further relief of transportation 
facilities. 

Appropriate steps should be taken through suitable federal 
authorities such as the Council of National Defense, the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, and the 
Federal Trade Commission, to facilitate the supplying of agri- 
cultural implements and machinery, particularly for seeding and 
harvesting, by bringing about reasonable deliveries of the neces- 
sary materials, in preference to filling orders for such products 
as are not required in the existing emergency. 

Steps should be taken at once to secure the preference move- 
ment of freight shipments of farm machinery, seeds, fertilizers, 
and spraying materials. 

PRICE FIXING, IF NECESSARY 

The very low food reserves of the world, due to last year's 
short crops, the increased demands due to the consumption and 
waste of war and the disappointing condition of the winter 
grain crop give ample assurance of profitable prices to producers 
this year. Therefore, the fixing of maximum or minimum 
prices need not be undertaken at this time, but the fact that such 
a course may become necessary in the future advises the crea- 
tion of agencies which will enable the government to act wisely 
when the necessity may arise. To this end, it would be well 
for the Congress of the United States to authorize the Council 
of National Defense, if deemed necessary, to purchase, store, 
and subsequently distribute food products, or to fix prices in 
any national emergency caused by a temporary or local over- 
production or by a sudden ending of the war or by restraints of 
trade, manipulations or uneconomic speculation, in order that 



288 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

producers may not be required to suffer loss on account of the 
extraordinary efforts they are now asked to make, and in order 
that consumers may not be required to pay oppressive prices in 
case of disorganized or inadequate transportation. Information 
should be continually maintained by the Department of Agri- 
culture that will afford the council intelligent data upon which 
to act wisely and fairly in any emergency. 

INCREASED HOME ECONOMY 

We are the most wasteful people in the world in our ways of 
living. Our tastes and desires have been educated beyond our 
incomes. 

Almost as great a saving may be made through the more eco- 
nomical manufacture, purchase, and use of food as can be made 
through processes of production which are immediately feasible. 

Our breadstuffs supply may be increased by one-twelfth, or 
1 8,000,000 barrels of flour a year, by milling our wheat so as 
to make 81 per cent, of the kernel into flour, instead of 73 per 
cent, as at present. This flour would have as high nutritive 
value as that which we now use. 

An important saving may be effected by making the diet as 
largely vegetarian as possible, without lowering food efficiency, 
by a partial substitution of such foods as beans and peas and 
of milk and its products, including skimmed milk, for the more 
expensive meats. At present prices a larger use of corn and 
rice products as partial substitutes for the more expensive wheat 
products is suggested. 

The substitution of the home-grown and home prepared grain 
products for the much more expensive refined commercial foods, 
known as breakfast foods, will make a large saving. Adequate 
gardens should provide the home supply of vegetables, which are 
expensive foods when purchased at existing prices. The home 
storage and preservation of foods, such as eggs, vegetables, fruits, 
and meats, should be increased. The serious food wastes that 
occur in many households through a lack of culinary knowledge 
and skill may be minimized through instruction in better 
methods. 



A PROGRAM 289 

These economies will be secured chiefly, if not fully, through 
the further education of housewives. It is highly important 
that all educational agencies available for this purpose engage 
in widespread propaganda and instruction concerning the eco- 
nomical use of human foods. 

NATIONAL AND STATE ORGANIZATION NEEDED 

The Council of National Defense is charged with the duty of 
mobilizing the resources of the nation, having as one of its mem- 
bers the Secretary of Agriculture. We recommend additional 
machinery as follows: 

A relatively small central agricultural body, whose services 
and presence might be required in Washington constantly, to be 
composed of men who have wide knowledge of agricultural mat- 
ters and executive experience. In selecting these men, atten- 
tion should be paid to geographical distribution. 

A large national advisory body composed of representatives 
of the leading agricultural agencies and associations concerned 
not only in production but in distributing and handling com- 
modities. 

A small central agricultural body in each state representing 
various agricultural interests, including agricultural officials, 
representatives of agricultural colleges, bankers' business, farm- 
ers' and women's organizations, etc., concerned in the produc- 
tion, distribution, and utilization of food supplies and agricul- 
tural raw materials. This body should be designated by the 
governor and, if the state has a central council of safety or 
defense, should be coordinated with it. 

Such county, urban, and other local bodies as the state author- 
ities, including this state central agency, may see fit to suggest. 

The national central body and the state central bodies will 
be expected to keep in intimate contact and to work in close 
cooperation. 

AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION 

To meet the extraordinary needs of agriculture in this emer- 
gency we recommend an appropriation of $25,000,000, or so 



290 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

much thereof as may be needed, to be available immediately for 
the use of the Secretary of Agriculture in such manner as he 
may deem best. 

The situation which now confronts our country is a great 
emergency — the greatest, perhaps, in its history. Emergency 
measures are needed to meet unusual conditions. The recom- 
mendations made in this statement have been formulated because 
it is believed that they are necessary in order to meet present con- 
ditions. They are war measures. It is strongly urged that 
Congress and state legislatures, in passing laws or in making 
appropriations intended to carry out these or other plans for 
assuring an adequate food and clothing supply, should, so far as 
possible, be governed by the principle that when the emergency 
ceases much permanent reconstruction in agricultural policies 
and plans may be necessary. 

The recommendations in the main call for federal action, but 
state governments can and should cooperate to the fullest degree 
in considering and executing plans of cooperation for the great 
common purpose herein enunciated. 

(From the Program for Food Production and Conservation, prepared 
at the conference of the Secretary of Agriculture and representatives 
from 32 states, held at St. Louis, Mo., April 9-10, 1917.) 



APPENDIX IV 
AN AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL POLICY 

The following note, prepared by Dr. Alexander E. Cance, 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, summarizes the opinions or 
convictions of sixty or more agricultural leaders — commission- 
ers of agriculture, presidents and deans of agricultural colleges 
and directors of experiment stations, economists, farmers, promi- 
nent leaders in farmers' organizations, bankers, rural journalists 
and others. In some capacity every man is vitally interested in 
the agricultural industry. Several are acknowledged national 
leaders in rural affairs. 

To this group of men four questions were addressed : 
( i ) Has the time arrived to begin the formulation of an Amer- 
ican agricultural policy ? 

(2) Is it feasible and desirable to relate such a policy to the 
larger questions of the world food supply? 

(3) What are the main items which should be included in such 
a policy ? 

(4) How can such a policy best be formulated and all agricul- 
tural agencies rallied to its execution ? 

Most of the replies indicated a sincere desire to consider the 
question seriously and thoughtfully. Very few who replied 
failed to understand the purport of the questions and all ac- 
cepted them in good faith. Of the whole number only one or 
two seemed puzzled and failed to grasp their full significance. 
On the whole the replies may well be accepted as typifying the 
best thought of the day on the agricultural problem. 

I. HAS THE TIME ARRIVED TO BEGIN THE FORMULATION OF AN 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL POLICY? 

It is very significant that the response to the first question 
is almost unanimously affirmative. With two or three excep- 

291 



292 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

tions they believe the time ripe for the formulation of an agri- 
cultural policy. Several are sure the hour is long overdue. 
Not a few have been mulling over or working on the details of 
such a problem for years. 

The reasons advanced for bringing forward the matter now 
are various. But in the main they are to be found in the agri- 
cultural status brought about by the war. Several men call 
attention to the fact that the formulation of an agricultural 
policy is imperative because food production problems are re- 
ceiving more attention than ever before in the history of the 
country; because the Food Administration, the War Industries 
Board and the United States Department of Agriculture have 
called the attention of all the people to the underlying principles 
in the formulation of such a policy; because we have had two 
fruitful years to study the problem ; because for the first time in 
the history of our country farm production has become a na- 
tional if not an international concern; because agriculturists as 
well as statesmen at this time are more open-minded concern- 
ing agriculture than ever before; others find in the necessary 
reconstruction of agriculture and industry after the war, partic- 
ularly with reference to land settlement and the employment of 
returning soldiers, a sufficient reason for giving their careful 
present thought to the formulation of such a policy. Moreover 
agriculture has now become stabilized because we are beginning 
to reap the unfortunate harvest of mistakes made in our land 
policy and agricultural practice of the past ; because the soil is 
being rapidly depleted by exports of fertility in the shape of 
raw products to other lands; because agriculture is every day 
becoming commercialized, is in fact no longer a self-sufficing 
industry; because of the advent of machinery, notably tractors 
and electrical devices; because the selection of the best men and 
women in our rural population, owing to the competition of 
cities, is depriving agriculture of much needed leadership are 
further reasons for the prompt undertaking of an agricultural 
policy. 

A few men significantly point out the fact that while it is pos- 
sible to lay down the principles underlying an agricultural pol- 



A POLICY 293 

icy the actual determination of an agricultural program must 
wait on international politics following peace ; in fact it is very 
likely that America's agricultural policy will be determined in a 
large degree by economic relations between nations. If eco- 
nomic barriers are broken down and peace is made on a basis of 
internationalism rather than nationalism, if trade is free between 
nations, our agricultural policy will be much different than if 
we continue to maintain our politics on national lines and de- 
velop in America a self-sufficing trade policy. Then we will 
raise corn in Illinois rather than in Argentine and perhaps find 
it advisable to buy our meat in Iowa rather than in South 
America. 

It is evident that agricultural leaders view the problem in 
different lights but with almost absolute unanimity find it imme- 
diate and pressing, and all believe that the formulation of such 
a policy will be a great stroke of agricultural statesmanship. 

II. IS IT FEASIBLE AND DESIRABLE TO RELATE SUCH A POLICY 
TO THE LARGER QUESTIONS OF THE WORLD FOOD SUPPLY? 

This question was answered very uniformly in the affirmative, 
although a number of men did not grasp the full significance 
of the question and saw in it only a question of providing food 
for people in other parts of the world. It is evident, however, 
that a sound agricultural policy cannot leave out of account 
political and productive conditions in other nations. Our agri- 
cultural policy, for example, must be closely tied up with that of 
Canada. With perfect free trade between Canada and the 
United States our agricultural policy must be quite different 
from a policy based on high protective duties between two coun- 
tries. If the United States is to become a manufacturing rather 
than an agricultural nation an agricultural program will have 
to be shaped to that end and will have to take into consideration 
the purchase of many agricultural raw materials produced in 
other parts of the world. In fact, American agriculture has 
nearly always been shaped to a greater or less degree by our 
international trade policy. After the war this will be more 
true than ever. Our very close affiliations with the allied 



294 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

countries will make it imperative that we take into account 
their commercial well being. Certain of their products, which 
they can produce well and more cheaply than we, will under 
free trade conditions be shipped to us. On the other hand we 
shall produce those commodities for which we are naturally best 
fitted, thus making the best use of the natural resources of the 
world without regard to the flag which floats over them. Here- 
after we must think in international terms. 

III. WHAT ARE THE MAIN ITEMS WHICH SHOULD BE INCLUDED 
IN SUCH A POLICY? 

When it comes to a statement of the main items which 
should be included in an agricultural policy it is very evident 
that agricultural leaders have great difficulty in separating the 
essential from the non-essential. A host of items were men- 
tioned, some of them patently reflecting local conditions, some 
of them the pet themes of the writers, some of them obvious 
agricultural needs and others including a comprehensive na- 
tional program. Altogether a catalog of these items, as gleaned 
from the replies, comprehends almost every phase of the agri- 
cultural program and represents nearly every part of the coun- 
try. A rather rough analysis would throw most of the sugges- 
tions into a few comprehensive groups. 

1. Land problems, including the colonization, settlement, ten- 
ure and financing of land. 

2. Soil conservation, including not only staying the ravages 
of erosion and soil depletion by careless farming, but also the 
conservation of potash, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, lime and other 
elements or materials of fertility suitable for plant growth in the 
air, in the soil and in the earth. 

3. Control of farm capital, including access to capital for the 
purchase of land and other permanent improvements, for the 
purchase of suitable equipment and for conducting current agri- 
cultural operations. There is a general feeling that the gov- 
ernment has not gone far enough in financial assistance, that 
while the land banks are good they should be supplemented with 
institutions for providing short time credit and should be closely 



A POLICY 295 

tied up with agents or organizations who can inspect and advise 
with regard to the best use of capital. Correlative with this is 
the problem of supervising the manufacture, distribution and 
sale of agricultural machinery, and perhaps fertilizers, used by 
farmers, to the end of its economic utilization. 

4. Farm labor, including supply, distribution and condition 
of employment. 

5. Marketing and distribution of farm products, including the 
organization of farmers for business purposes. Perhaps no 
items of policy, other than land problems, were more frequently 
mentioned by these agricultural leaders than the marketing of 
farm products and the organization of farmers. The follow- 
ing is prevalent, that there are large wastes in the distribution 
of farm products which it is possible to remedy by an intelli- 
gent agricultural policy, either through government assistance 
or through farmers' organizations or through both. These 
problems include transportation, both by highway and by rail- 
road, wholesale distribution, storage and warehousing, primary 
manufacturing, and regulation of commissions and trade prac- 
tices in the handling of agricultural products and agricultural 
supplies. 

6. Farm life, including conditions in and surrounding the 
farm home, and community life and surroundings. It is felt 
that no agricultural programs have sufficiently taken account of 
the farm home, its construction, sanitation, economic appliances 
and situation as a part of the farm enterprise as well as a unit 
in community life. 

7. Community life, including education, religion and recrea- 
tion. Not very much that is definite was advanced on this topic 
but strong statements were made with regard to the necessity 
of better rural school conditions and a more wholesome rural 
community life, at least sufficient to place the country boy and 
girl as well as the country adult on the same plane with city 
dwellers. There is a strong conviction that country children 
in few parts of the country are receiving the same advantages 
of education that city children of the same economic class are 
receiving. The country church was emphasized many times as 
being an essential factor in our rural policy. Moreover the 



296 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

rural church problem is apparently as far from solution as 
ever. 

8. A definition of the relation of the government to various 
agricultural agencies, institutions, practices and conditions. It 
was strongly emphasized that any agricultural policy should de- 
fine in no uncertain terms the part which the government 
should play, not only in the formulation but in the execution of 
an agricultural policy and the attitude which the federal gov- 
ernment as well as state governments should take on various 
matters. Some of these are : 

(a) Land sale, settlement, colonization and tenure. In this 
connection few men failed to point out the necessity of dealing 
immediately with the problem of the distribution of land to 
returning soldiers, first as to the advisability of such distribution, 
second as to the methods, third as to the conditions, fourth as to 
financing settlement and settlers. 

(b) With regard to political representation in state and na- 
tion. 

(c) With the organization of farmers, especially for eco- 
nomic purposes but also for social and political objects. 

(d) With regard to prices, trade and commercial practices in 
the distribution of farm products. 

(e) With regard to taxation of land and farm equipment. 

(f) With regard to material agricultural encouragement, 
tariffs, bounties, subsidies, loans, and the like. 

(g) With regard to the development, utilization and con- 
servation of natural resources. 

(h) With regard to rural education, rural life and means of 
communication. 

9. Agricultural commerce and trade, including both domestic 
and international trade. 

10. Consumption and the relation of consumers to the food 
supply. In other words, it is advanced that an agricultural 
policy should have as a chief consideration the consumers' de- 
mand for agricultural foodstuffs and the raw materials of cloth- 
ing and that a policy should be developed on the basis of a 
study of the food requirements of different sections of the coun- 



A POLICY 297 

try and the possibility of producing these food requirements most 
economically. 

On the following pages the reviewer has attempted to classify 
the various items presented by the correspondents, none of whom 
developed a comprehensive program. Consequently, the " Ten- 
tative outline of an American Agricultural Policy " inserted be- 
low may be considered to include the items just stated and in 
addition some fields which the correspondents have omitted and 
which in the opinion of the reviewer are essential in a compre- 
hensive agricultural policy. 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL POLICY 
TENTATIVE OUTLINE 

Inasmuch as no one person is responsible for the complete out- 
line of an agricultural policy and since the problem was pre- 
sented in this correspondence from several viewpoints, I have 
endeavored to classify the items under a few commonplace head- 
ings. I have attempted to set forth as fairly as possible the con- 
sensus of opinion on the several items. The resulting outline is 
somewhat detailed and may seem to some too comprehensive. 
It is clear, however, that no matter how short and simple may 
be the final statement of policy, it will be necessary first to 
consider the problem in its ramifications in order to balance 
conclusions and escape contradictions and narrow temporalities. 
At best the outline is tentative merely and will at least serve for 
purposes of discussion. 

I. Fundamental Principles 

1. Economically, an agricultural policy should be approached 
from the point of view of maintaining the supply of food 
and other raw materials of agriculture for the nation or 
for the world. 

2. Nationally, two possible policies may be pursued : 

(a) To make the nation self-sufficing with regard to food 
and other agricultural raw materials, that is to pursue 
an agricultural policy which will maintain the balance 



298 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

between agriculture and other industries within the 
nation ; 
(b) To purchase our food supply in the lowest market and 
pay for it with manufactured goods; 
The policy chosen should be determined by the best 
interest of the country as a whole. 

3. Individually, the farm should provide its workers with as 
good a living and as good an opportunity for development 
and should open as many important avenues of public 
recognition as any other calling. 

4. The guiding principle should be to establish and maintain 
such farming conditions as will best serve the interest of 
society as a whole. Agriculture should receive a fair re- 
ward. The other classes of society should not be com- 
pelled to pay too high a price for food and clothing. 

5. In formulating a policy the sociological aspect should be 
kept always in view. Life is primarily spiritual, intel- 
lectual, social and economic. 

II. Production 

1. The basis of encouragement of agricultural production 
should rest on an adequate remuneration for the farmer, 
based on the cost of production plus a fair insurance against 
seasonal risks. 

2. The independence of the farm operator should be insured 
either by giving him easy opportunity to own the land he 
operates or by safeguarding his investment in improve- 
ments, encouraging longer tenure and better farm practice, 

and conserving soil fertility by judicious legislation re- 
garding tenant right. 

3. Credit. The farmer's credit facilities should be enlarged 
by: 

(a) Better facilities for short time credit on a national 
basis; (and perhaps) 

(b) A system of banks, specifically agricultural, to deal 
with farm credit requirements as our present system 
deals chiefly with urban credit needs; 



A POLICY 299 

(c) Farm and stored products; the farm business as a 
going concern as well as character, industry and farm 
experience should be bases for farm loans. 

4. Machinery. The economical use of modern farm machin- 
ery and appliances should be encouraged by official inspec- 
tion of such machinery, particularly tractors, electrical 
appliances and motor-driven implements, so that farmers 
may be protected in their purchases and the waste of farm 
capital invested in untried machines prevented. 

5. P'arm labor. 

(a) The basic wages, hours, housing facilities and condi- 
tions of employment of farm laborers should be stand- 
ardized as far as possible ; 

(b) Provision should be made for the training of agricul- 
tural laborers; 

(c) Laborers' cottages, longer terms of employment, em- 
ployment of married men, yearly contracts and the 
giving of a bonus or a material interest in the farm 
enterprise to the laborer in addition to wages should 
be encouraged ; 

(d) The supply and seasonal distribution of laborers 
should be perfected through the establishment of gov- 
ernment labor bureaus with local branches. 

6. Seed. Measures should be taken to encourage the produc- 
tion of good varieties of pure seed, and to insure the supply 
of good seed and the protection of the buyer against adul- 
terated or impure varieties. Especial attention should be 
given to procuring legume seed. 

7. Live stock. The plan should include government encour- 
agement and assistance in live stock breeding, chiefly by 
means of community enterprises. 

8. Conservation measures. 

(a) Provision for the supply of unlimited quantities of 
lime for agricultural needs; 

(b) The restriction of exports of mineral phosphates; 

(c) A comprehensive plan for the manufacture of syn- 



3 oo THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

thetic ammonia, nitrates and other nitrogenous fer- 
tilizing materials ; 

(d) Production of adequate quantities of potash to pre- 
clude the necessity of importing this material; 

(e) Protection of agricultural land against erosion and 
overflow ; 

(f) Propaganda regarding the advantages of tile draining 
and provision for the necessary supply of tile where 
needed ; 

(g) Statement of a definite policy regarding the exporta- 
tion of our agricultural products, grains, cottonseed oil 
cake and the like which can be fed to live stock at 
home. 

9. A land and reclamation policy. 

To what extent is it desirable to encourage increased agri- 
cultural population, increased area of cultivated land and 
consequently increased agricultural production merely to 
lower the prices of agricultural products? 

(a) Formulation of a constructive policy with regard to 
land settlement and colonization, first for returning 
soldiers, second for other prospective farmers: 

(b) This policy should definitely determine the following 
points : 

(1) The supervising and directing authority 
(aa) Government — federal or state or both; 
(bb) Private real estate agencies; 

(cc) Both governmental and private agencies. 

(2) Location of settlement. 

(aa) In limited regions, on hitherto unoccupied 
tracts, in the newer states, probably distant from 
settled agriculture and markets; 

(bb) Scattered settlements in the older or home 
states ; 

(cc) On reclaimed lands or on unimproved lands 
once in farms. There are many very valid rea- 
sons why new settlers, not experienced farmers, 



A POLICY 301 

should find farm homes in the older settled com- 
munities. The benefits of such home settle- 
ments accrue both to the older community and 
to the settler. Moreover there are obvious dis- 
advantages in new and untried territories dis- 
tant from markets and the conveniences of civ- 
ilization. 

(3) Conditions of settlement. 

(aa) Qualifications of the settler — citizenship, agri- 
cultural experience, length of residence; 

(bb) Restrictions on transfer of land and change of 
residence ; 

(cc) Material aid and equipments furnished the set- 
tler, for example, agricultural advice, credit, 
buildings and equipment, supplies; 

(dd) Size of holdings permitted. 

Should there be different policies in the different 
states or for different types of settlement with 
government protection and assistance in all in- 
stances ? 

(ee) Legislation to prevent land speculation, exploita- 
tion and attendant evils. 

(4) A comprehensive reclamation policy under state or 
federal auspices, including drainage, irrigation, dik- 
ing, clearing unimproved land. 

(aa) To open new land ; 

(bb) To provide employment for prospective settlers; 
(cc) To relieve industrial unemployment after the 
war. 

(5) A comprehensive immigration policy. 

10. Control of diseases and pests, both of animal and plants. 
The policy should include adequate laws, both national 
and state, and outline provisions for agricultural insur- 
ance against weather, disease and pest conditions. 

III. Distribution 

On no point is there more uniform agreement than on the 



302 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

necessity for a definite policy with regard to the marketing and 
distribution of agricultural products. Needless to say there is 
disagreement on the details or even principles underlying such 
a policy. Some points of general agreement are as follows: 
i. Much greater emphasis by investigators, educators, rural 
leaders and administrators on the discovery and dissemina- 
tion of facts and principles of scientific marketing. The 
conviction that distribution problems have been slighted by 
agricultural leaders and educators is definite and pro- 
nounced. 

2. Business organization. Organization of farmers' corpora- 
tions for marketing and wholesale handling of products. 

(a) The purposes are economic handling, preparation for 
consumption, grading, standardizing, advertising, 
eliminating wastes, storing, utilizing by-products, 
transporting, equalizing distribution and providing re- 
quirements of raw materials in quantity at wholesale 
prices ; 

(b) Collective bargaining by farmers under adequate pro- 
tective legislation to safeguard both farmers and con- 
sumers; 

(c) Preparation, cleaning, packing and primary manufac- 
ture of farm products, especially the manufacture of 
byproducts and culls by farmers' corporations for the 
purpose of conservation of food, saving of transporta- 
tion and increasing returns to the farmer. 

3. Transportation. 

(a) Government aid in the planning and building of high- 
ways. Government ownership of highways is sug- 
gested as practicable and more desirable than owner- 
ship of railways; 

(b) Encouragement of motor truck, freight and trolley 
express for farm products ; 

(c) Revision of freight rates with a view to agricultural 
needs and economic distribution ; 

(d) Shipment of partially prepared or finished products 
rather than raw materials of agriculture. Approval 



A POLICY 303 

of this policy would mean the encouragement of fac- 
tories for the manufacture of agricultural products 
much nearer the points of consumption than pre-war 
conditions of competition seem to justify. 

4. Grades. Establishment of national grades and standards 
for farm products. 

5. Government control. Control distributing agencies, les- 
sen waste, cheapen distributing costs and provide adequate 
facilities for handling food products either by government 
ownership of the mechanism of distribution or by govern- 
ment control through the licensing of middlemen and reg- 
ulation of middlemen's prices, charges and methods or by 
government price fixing. 

6. More stringent regulation to prevent adulteration, mis- 
branding, etc. 

Additional projects advocated by a minority. 

7. Storage and warehouse facilities constructed, operated or 
controlled by government to restore the balance of under- 
or over-production of food or prevent gluts and shortages 
and to stabilize prices. 

8. Regulation of exports of raw agricultural products. 

9. Encouragement of farmers' markets and means of direct 
marketing to utilize products for consumption as near the 
source of supply as possible and provide the consumer with 
fresh food materials. 

IV. Rural Education. 

Principle, to make available to farmers' sons and daughters as 
satisfactory educational advantages as are offered to any children 
in the country. 

1. Federal aid to rural schools, chiefly because it is impossible 
to provide adequate educational facilities to rural children 
by local taxation ; 

2. The creation of adequate rural educational facilities of 
both primary and secondary grade. Much emphasis is 
laid on the necessity of providing secondary school educa- 
tion for rural children ; 



3 04 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

3. Better teachers with rural outlook and ideals of rural 
leadership at better wages; 

4. Teacherages and possibly consolidated schools with the 
idea of making the rural school teacher a permanent addi- 
tion to the leadership of the rural community ; 

5. More attention to agricultural economics and rural sociol- 
ogy in secondary schools and colleges where farmers and 
rural leaders are trained ; 

6. Expansion of research facilities in experiment stations to 
include problems of agricultural economics and social 
studies; 

(a) A revision and reconstruction of the curricula of col- 
leges in order that college teaching may be brought in 
line with the national agricultural policy both with re- 
gard to production and distribution. More especially 
much greater emphasis should be placed on the teach- 
ing of agricultural economics and rural life subjects 
to all agricultural teachers and leaders in agriculture. 
The American agricultural policy as such should be 
given a place among the courses offered by our depart- 
ment of agricultural economics and all college students 
should be required to give attention to the broader 
phases of agriculture. 

7. Organization of research in current problems as well as in 
long-time investigation ; 

8. Schools for the training of rural leaders and managers of 
farmers' business organizations. 

V. Religious Life. 

The revitalization of the rural church and the recognition of 
the rural church as an essential factor in the development of a 
rural community. 

Details as to the reorganization and development of the rural 
church as a factor in rural life affairs are lacking. It is signifi- 
cant, however, that there is wide agreement on the general prin- 
ciple above stated. 



A POLICY 305 

VI. Health and Sanitation. 

In matters of health and sanitation our urban communities 
have long worked on a definite policy looking to the protection 
of public and private health. The state departments of health 
have thus far concerned themselves almost wholly with the wel- 
fare of cities. No policy or program especially applicable to the 
rural districts has been adopted. As a result of this negligence, 
it has come to be true that preventable diseases are largely rural 
diseases. Rural districts should be the most healthful in the 
country. The national Public Health Service should establish 
forthwith a rural health bureau, and each state, if not each 
county, should have a similar bureau, with physicians, sanita- 
rians and nurses in connection therewith. 

VII. Country Life. 

After all the spiritual and social side of rural life is the im- 
portant side. Opportunity for better living, leisure for appre- 
ciation, wholesome recreation, community activities, social and 
intellectual, must be contemplated by makers of an agricultural 
policy. We should aim to create a proper appreciation of agri- 
culture as a business not only among those who are not engaged 
in it but among those who are engaged in it. Agricultural 
problems are not different from other problems except as made 
so by the isolation of the people. 

VIII. Government Relations. 

It is very essential in any agricultural policy that the relation 
of the government to various phases of agricultural and agri- 
cultural activities should be definitely stated. In general the 
definition of government relationships should be crystallized in 
law. But it is clear that no agricultural policy can proceed 
very far without taking into consideration the attitude of the 
government toward the various items in the program. A num- 
ber of these governmental relationships, perhaps all of them, 
have been indicated in the outline. They are grouped together 
under this heading in order that they may be viewed as a whole. 
The relationship of the government to agriculture and to 
farmers should be clear with regard to: 



3 o6 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

(a) Political representation of agriculture in the state and 
nation; 

(b) Corporations of farmers for collective bargaining and 
for other economic purposes; 

(c) Control of prices of agricultural products, trade and 
commercial practices in distribution ; 

(d) Land, land settlement, immigration and the financing 
of the farm enterprise; 

(e) Taxation of land and farm equipment; 

(f) The unearned increment in land; 

(g) The development, utilization and conservation of soil 
and other natural agricultural resources, fertilizing 
materials. 

(h) Exportation of raw agricultural products, especially 
those suitable for the feeding of live stock; 

(i) Material agricultural encouragement, tariffs, bounties, 
subsidies, agricultural advice and assistance, loans, etc. 

(j) The ownership and control of means of transporta- 
tion and distribution, including highways, railways, 
storage facilities, manufactories of agricultural prod- 
ucts and other distributing agencies and institutions; 

(k) Rural education and agricultural education, both for 
children and for adults; 

(1) Rural health and sanitation; 

(m) Means of rural communication; 

(n) Rural policing; 

(o) Government employment agencies for employing agri- 
cultural labor; 

(p) Agricultural trade and commerce, foreign and domes- 
tic; 

(q) Agricultural credit. 

IX. The Coordination of the Economic, Educational and 
Administrative Forces in Agriculture. 
Some definite steps should be taken to coordinate 
i. The agricultural colleges, experiment stations, extension 
services and the United States Department of Agriculture 



A POLICY 307 

under one bureau or department in order that there may 
be perfect understanding and collaboration in education 
and research work, that friction may be avoided and dupli- 
cation of work eliminated. 

2. Coordination between county, state and national author- 
ities in agricultural affairs is necessary and should be a part 

of an agricultural policy. 

3. The organization of farmers' organizations, both business 
and social, agricultural leaders, educators and others inter- 
ested in country life into a national chamber or council of 
agriculture under a rational, systematic and practicable 
plan is certainly a part of any agricultural policy. 

IV. HOW CAN SUCH A POLICY BEST BE FORMULATED AND ALL 
AGRICULTURAL AGENCIES RALLIED FOR ITS EXECUTION? 

Thoughtful men are by no means agreed on the authority for 
formulating a program and perhaps more disagreed on the exe- 
cution of it. Aside from representative farmers and stockmen 
at least 20 groups of men were suggested as having a part indi- 
vidually or collectively in the formulation of a program. Ten 
of these represent publicly supported agricultural agencies, edu- 
cational or administrative in character. Two are associations 
of agricultural economists. Five are great farmers' organiza- 
tions or federations of farmers' associations. The others repre- 
sent the rural and agricultural press, the banks and legislative 
bodies, state and federal. 

1. In general one may distinguish four groups: first, those 
who would assign the formulation of a policy to the state agri- 
cultural (educational) agencies and the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, generally in cooperation with the state 
commissioners of agriculture. Due perhaps to the source of the 
replies there is very general agreement that representatives of the 
agricultural colleges, experiment stations and the United States 
Department of Agriculture should assume the responsibility in 
whole or large part for the formulation of an agricultural policy. 
It is interesting that comparatively few deans, directors or pres- 
idents of agricultural colleges or stations have suggested farmers 



308 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

or farmers' organizations in connection with the formulation of 
a program. None of them gave any place to consumers or 
trade organizations interested in agricultural products. 

2. Those who approve an independent commission, appointed 
by the President or by Congress, at least having federal author- 
ity, composed of agricultural leaders. There is no general 
agreement on the constitution of this commission. Various sug- 
gestions are offered : 

a. That it should represent all sections of the country and 

all phases of the subject. 

b. That leaders in education, journalism, politics, medicine 
and law, together with leaders within the agricultural 
colleges, should compose it. 

c. That it should be composed of both men and women. 

3. Some voluntary conference committee or group of which 
farmers, representatives of farmers' organizations and econo- 
mists should form a prominent part. A few men would have 
farmers or farmers' organizations formulate and carry through 
the program. Others would submit a plan formulated by some 
agricultural group to the farmers for discussion and acceptance. 
At least two men suggest that the American Association for 
Agricultural Legislation is the proper body to draw up the 
policy for submission to the agricultural interests. 

4. A conference or regional conferences, made up of groups 
one and three, for discussion and formulation, the policy to be 
put in operation by various educational and administrative pub- 
licly supported agencies and by executive action following legis- 
lation. A conference of this sort, while perhaps not definite in 
constitution, is the answer to those who feel that an agricultural 
policy should be formulated by a large number of agricultural 
interests. It is probable that any conference thoroughly repre- 
sentative of agriculture and agricultural leaders would be sat- 
isfactory. Differences in the agricultural problems of different 
regions account for the proposal of regional conferences. 

Note: The American Agricultural Policy Conference 
Group which follows is presented by the reviewer as sugges- 
tive merely. None of the correspondents have suggested all of 



A POLICY 309 

the agencies listed in this group. Many of them suggested a 
number of agencies and of course many of the suggestions are 
vague. This group not only includes the publicly supported 
agricultural agencies and farmers' organizations, but econo- 
mists, associations of farm women, trade organizations and rural 
sociologists. The agricultural press and other groups mani- 
festly have an interest in the formulation of an agricultural 
policy. 

CONFERENCE GROUP 

An ideal conference would include all groups considered in 
the preceding report and certain others which have not been 
suggested. For example, although none have mentioned con- 
sumers' organizations or consumers, it is evident that to con- 
sumers America's agricultural policy would be a matter of vast 
importance. Many items in the agricultural program here pre- 
sented are intimately related to the transportation agencies, stor- 
age corporations, manufacturers of agricultural products and 
agricultural requirements as well as to distributors of foods. 

The following tentative list attempts to include the more im- 
portant interested groups: 

I. Publicly supported agricultural agencies, educational and 
administrative 

a. United States Department of Agriculture 

b. United States Food Administration 

c. Agricultural colleges, experiment stations and extension 
divisions — represented in the American Association of 
Agricultural Colleges 

d. State commissions of agriculture 

e. Association of State Marketing Officials. 

II. Associations of Economists 

a. American Association of Agricultural Economists 

b. American Association for Agricultural Legislation 

c. American Farm Management Association. 

III. Farmers' Organizations 

a. American Society of Equity 



310 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 

b. Farmers' Cooperative and Educational Union 

c. National Farmers' Congress 

d. National Federation of Milk Producers 

(a, b, c, and d are represented in the National Board of 
Farm Organizations.) 

e. Grange 

f. National Live Stock Association 

g. National Council of Farmers' Cooperative Associations 
(grain growers) 

h. Right Relationship League. 

IV. Farm Women's Organizations 

a. International Congress of Farm Women 

b. National Farm and Garden Association 

c. Women's Land Army of America. 

V. Trade Associations 

a. Chamber of Commerce of the U. S. A. 

b. National League of Commission Merchants 

c. Meat Packers' Association 

d. National Poultry, Butter and Egg Association 

e. Grain Dealers' National Association 

f. National Association of Cotton Manufacturers 

g. National Retail Grocers' Association 
h. National Hay Association. 

VI. Voluntary Organizations or Groups Concerned with the 
Agricultural Policy 

a. Agricultural Policy Group 

b. U. S. D. A. Agricultural Mission 

c. Committee of Twenty-Four — Advisory Council. 

VII. Consumers' Organizations 

a. Cooperative League of America 

b. Consumers' League 

c. Housewives' League 

d. American Federation of Labor. 



A POLICY 311 

VIII. Allied Organizations 

a. Russell Sage Foundation 

b. Carnegie Institution 

c. Rockefeller Institute 

d. American Bankers' Association. 

IX. Individual Representative Agricultural Leaders and 
Farmers. 



THE END 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



TH 
of 



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